By Ann Kelley
The Oklahoman
SHAWNEE, Okla. — A man accused of escaping from Pottawatomie County’s jail told a judge he had been gone 20 days before his escape was officially reported.
Harley Davidson Scott, 27, is charged in Pottawatomie County District Court with one count of escape from jail.
He appeared in court last week, and when the charge against him was read, Scott said the Aug. 28 escape date on court documents was wrong. He told a judge he escaped Aug. 8, officials said.
Interim jail Director Carl Pierce said it’s possible that Scott could have been gone longer than jailers realized.
“That’s not confirmed, but we can’t say that he’s lying,” Pierce said.
Pierce blamed a glitch in the computer software for an inaccurate count of prisoners in the jail pod where Scott was assigned. He said until the software is fixed, detention officers are doing regular physical counts of the prisoners and are logging the numbers in writing.
Jail officials reported Scott missing on Aug. 28 when two other prisoners, Branden Charles Farnell, 24, of Konawa and Joseph Ray Henson, 30, were reported as escapees. Farnell and Henson have been apprehended.
Scott was in jail awaiting trial in Cleveland County on charges of embezzlement and drug possession.
He also was wanted by the Arizona Corrections Department on violating his probation for a previous conviction.
He was arrested Sept. 3 when he arrived aboard a bus in Baker City, Ore.
If convicted of escape, he could face up to seven years in prison.
Since the escapes, Pottawatomie County jail officials have updated their training and made several alterations to the jail’s construction, Pierce said.
The jail trust in September hired Don Jones of Cushing to serve as a jail consultant.
Copyright 2007 The Oklahoman