Two convicted felons managed to escape prison until they were captured trying to visit a homeless shelter more than 100 miles away, officials said.
James Newman, 37, and Thomas Deering, 46, showed up Friday to Miss Carly’s homeless services center in Rockford, Wisconsin, but the founder of the center said she recognized that they were not homeless as soon as they arrived.
“This morning two men showed up at our door shivering, frozen, wearing prison issue sweats and thermal shirts,” Carly Rice said in a Facebook post. They had emergency blankets stuffed under their clothing. They looked just like the kind of people we want to help….but they weren’t.
“I recognized them right away,” she added.
Newman and Deering had escaped the Columbia Correctional Facility 27 hours earlier. The prison is located in Portage, about 105 miles from Miss Carly’s center.
Rice told NBC News that she became suspicious when she saw the duo’s thermal underwear and sweatpants.
“I have a lengthy criminal record myself, so I’m familiar with the clothes,” Rice said. She said she had seen the two men on a social media post about the escape the night before.
Rice said that a volunteer at the center offered Newman and Deering hot coffee and cigarettes in an attempt to stall them while she disappeared into another room to alert the authorities about the criminals.
“I was trembling, I was scared, and I didn’t want them to see my hands trembling,” Rice said, noting that she put on a large jacket to cover her hands.
Officers arrived at about 8:30 a.m. and arrested the men without incident.
“We’re just extremely happy that two extremely violent individuals were apprehended,” said Rockford Police chief Dan O’Shea.
Newman had been convicted of weapons, theft, and kidnapping charges, while Deering is serving time for kidnapping, sexual assault, and battery.
