By Ryan Hedrick
Henderson Daily Dispatch
GRANVILLE COUNTY, N.C.—An inmate from the Granville County Detention Center is currently at large after a carefully orchestrated escape plan was pulled off successful Monday morning.
According to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Stephen Hicks, 35, was serving state prison sentences for larceny of motor vehicles and assault and also had a future federal prison term of 15 years for a bank robbery committed in Burlington in 2015.
The escape occurred shortly after Hicks arrived at the Granville County Courthouse for a court appearance.
According to Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins Jr., a handcuff key had been smuggled to Hicks while he was in jail. During the drive between the jail and the courthouse Monday morning, Hicks unlocked both his wrist and ankle restraints using the smuggled key.
When the van arrived at the courthouse and guards opened the back doors, Hicks bolted from the van and drove off in a blue 2013 Ford Mustang GT that had been planted at the courthouse in anticipation of the escape.
Wilkins said that an investigation into the escape is ongoing and that they have leads as to how the key was smuggled to Hicks.
The Granville County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Department of Public Safety ask that anyone who has seen Hicks or has information on his whereabouts call 911 or the Granville County Sheriff’s Office at 919-693-3213.