By Wes Tomlinson
The Decatur Daily, Ala.
DECATUR, Ala. — A Valhermoso Springs woman was arrested last week after authorities said she hid her boyfriend in a Leighton shed after he escaped from Decatur Morgan Hospital while in Morgan County deputies’ custody, according to a deputy’s affidavit.
Ashlee Michelle Brown, 30, is charged with first-degree permitting or facilitating escape. She was booked into the Morgan County Jail on Wednesday, where she remained Monday in lieu of a $5,000 bond, jail records show.
Records show Brown also faces failure-to-appear charges in organized retail theft and third-degree burglary cases.
According to the affidavit, Brown’s boyfriend, Tyler James Freeman, 27, of Decatur, had been arrested April 26 after a high-speed chase through Hartselle in a stolen vehicle.
Deputies said they saw Freeman pull up to a stop sign at New Center Road and Alabama 36 on April 26 , then flee west on Alabama 36. Freeman allegedly passed multiple vehicles on double-yellow lines, ran a red light at Main Street and Interstate 65, turned onto Railroad Street and stopped at Life Church, where he ran on foot before deputies pointed a Taser at him and arrested him.
Freeman was charged with attempting to elude and possession of stolen property after deputies learned the vehicle he had been driving was stolen, the affidavit says.
After Freeman was apprehended that night, he told deputies he had swallowed more than a gram of methamphetamine and was taken to Decatur Morgan Hospital . On May 2 , Freeman escaped from the hospital after telling deputies he needed to use the restroom, according to the affidavit.
"(Deputies) removed the handcuffs and shackles, and Freeman fled down the stairs and out of the ER door,” the affidavit states. “Several citizens in the area reported seeing a white male running in the area of 18th Street Southeast and White Street Southeast running north.”
Four days later, deputies received a tip that led them to a property on Shaw Road in Leighton , where Freeman and Brown were found in a shed, according to the affidavit.
“The shed is where Brown’s mother resides,” the affidavit states. “Investigators spoke to Brown on the night of the escape in Moulton, AL. She denied having contact but was advised to contact 911 if he showed up. Instead, Brown assisted him in hiding him out at her mother’s residence.”
Court records show Brown has a jury trial scheduled for June 16 in Circuit Judge Stephen Brown’s courtroom on her organized retail theft and burglary charges.
This was not the first time Freeman led deputies on a high-speed chase in Hartselle.
On July 13, 2023 , Freeman was charged with reckless endangerment, resisting arrest, possession of controlled substances, second-degree criminal mischief and attempting to elude. Court records show all of the charges were dismissed in 2024 except the criminal mischief charge, to which Freeman pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended to two years of probation.
According to a deputy’s affidavit in that case, Freeman fled west on Nance Ford Road Southwest after deputies tried to stop his red Dodge pickup truck during a routine patrol. He continued onto Eubanks Street Southwest and Enslen Street Southwest before turning west on Alabama 36, where deputies said he reached speeds of more than 100 mph.
“Freeman turned southbound on New Cut Road before turning back northbound, eventually turning east on Long Bottom Road and driving into a cornfield, causing an estimated $1,000 of damage to the crop,” deputies said.
Freeman was arrested after a brief foot pursuit when he crashed into a ditch, according to the affidavit. He was booked into the Morgan County Jail and held until posting a $2,800 bond, jail records showed at the time.
Morgan County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mike Swafford said Freeman had previously been arrested in December 2021 on a charge of stealing a Somerville police vehicle.
According to an affidavit filed in Morgan County District Court in December 2021 , Freeman led officers on a vehicle chase before police caught him and placed him in the back of a patrol car.
Freemen then “slipped out of his handcuffs and forced himself through the small glass window in the patrol car, then (took) the vehicle and led officers on (another) chase.”
The affidavit said Freeman was not found after abandoning the police vehicle and eluding on foot.
According to a felony warrant, Freeman was later apprehended for first-degree theft in February 2022. He was ultimately sentenced to 36 months of probation.
Freeman remained in the Morgan County Jail without bond Monday, jail records show.
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