By C1 Staff
SAN JOSE — A man accused of child molestation who injured a deputy to escape has been recaptured several states away after a month on the run.
CBS News reports that Johnell Carter was arrested Tuesday while fleeing from a residence.
It’s reported that members of his family assisted in his escape; his brother drove him to a bus station in Reno, Nevada. From there, Carter traveled to Mississippi before he was captured.
Joseph Carter III, Johnell Carter’s 46-year-old brother, and his wife are currently in custody.
Carter allegedly has family in Mississippi, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. When they learned he’d gotten on a bus in Nevada, they refocused their efforts to Mississippi.
Though there is no evidence that Carter had a plan when he escaped on March 6, the sheriff’s office is currently reviewing its policies and procedures for transferring inmates.
Carter’s escape was the first experienced by its transportation unit in a decade.
“We want to be perfect, but without an escape from our transportation unit in 10 years, with 150,000 people transported [from jail] every year, is a good record,” said Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith.
Carter was chained at the waist and handcuffed at the time he escaped, she said.
When he arrived via bus in Gulfport, he was seen in video obtained from the station’s surveillance system exiting the bus around 4 p.m. on March 11.
He is currently in custody in Harrison County, Mississippi, as authorities in Santa Clara County prepare to have him extradited back to the county jail in San Jose.