By Melanie Michael
WTSP
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge Thomas McGrady says forging a signature is not hard to do, but admits “it is aggravating,” especially when it happened to him.
“My reaction was oh no, not again,” said Judge McGrady after hearing about two convicted murderers who filed phony paperwork to get out of a North Florida prison where they were both serving life sentences.
Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, both 34, didn’t scale fences or run into the woods. Guards let each of them leave through the front gate of the prison -- Jenkins on Sept. 27 and Walker on Oct. 8.
Judge Thomas McGrady has been through this before. He knows what’s like to hear about bad guys busting out from behind bars with bogus documents. He went through the same thing in 2009 with a man named Nydeed Nashaddai, 44, who used a forged court order to get out from behind bars.
Judge McGrady told 10 News, “It was a surprise and aggravating to use my name to get out of jail.”
Full story: Pinellas-Pasco Chief Judge Thomas McGrady victim of inmate forging signature to escape prison