By Chris Conley
The Commercial Appeal
WAYNE COUNTY, Tenn. — A Georgia man doing time in an east Tennessee prison for an armed robbery in Memphis, may be headed back this way, authorities said Sunday.
Stephen Allen Hester, 26, came up missing during a head count at the CCA facility in Wayne County at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday .
It is believed he jumped a fence, then abducted a woman in Wayne County and took her car.
Hester, of Hartwell, Ga., was convicted in a Shelby County courtroom earlier this year in the Jan. 7, 2009, armed robbery of a Circle K at 4999 Lamar in Memphis.
He was serving an eight-year sentence at the privately run facility, and had been there since October.
After his escape Saturday night, Hester went to a market in Clifton, Tenn., where he abducted a woman and stole her vehicle, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Hester released the victim at a Wal-Mart in Savannah, Tenn., and drove off in her silver 2005 Chevrolet Malibu with Tennessee tags 575 TQT.
The TBI has added Hester to its Top Ten Most Wanted list. A spokesman said Hester could be headed to the Memphis area.
He has a criminal record that involves burglary, passing bad checks, drug possession and driving on a suspended license.
Hester and a second man threatened a clerk at the Memphis Circle K on Lamar on Jan. 7 with tire irons, removed two cash registers, then sped off in a Ford Mustang that had been reported stolen in Georgia.
A Memphis Police officer arrested the two men based on the car description and from images of them captured by a store surveillance video.
Hester’s accomplice, Jeffrey Thornton, 22, of Lavonia, Ga., was also convicted of the Circle K robbery and sentenced to seven years and two months in prison.
Hester is described as a white man with brown hair and blue eyes. He is about 5-foot-9 and 230 pounds.
Hester has tattoos on both arms and his right calf.
Anyone with information is asked to call the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND. There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Copyright 2009 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.