EASTPOINT, Fla. (WMBB) — Franklin County Authorities released more details Friday about the escaped prison inmate and the alleged accomplice they arrested last night.
Around 6:45 Thursday night, law enforcement officers from five different agencies converged on a site on Barber Drive in Eastpoint. Inside, they found escaped state prison inmate Robert Rutherford.
“We went there and we searched the property,” said Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith. “This property has two or three campers and mobile home sheds. It’s right on the edge of this wooded area where we tracked him to. We felt pretty confident it was good information and we discovered him hiding in the trailer.”
The 37-year-old made his escape by walking off of a work detail on Monday and roaming around Apalachicola. Law enforcement discovered he was in Eastpoint on Thursday morning when he was spotted at Eastpoint cemetery. They also discovered a water bottle with a phone number written on it in what looked like toothpaste.
“We gave the number to our crime analyst, Riva Sapp, and she matched it to his visitation log, which had his sister’s phone number. We were able to determine the good chance that this was Rutherford.”
An anonymous tipper leads law enforcement to Rutherford’s location, and he’ll receive up to $5,000 as a reward. Rutherford did not resist when confronted by law enforcement in the trailer, and no new information has been released about the man who allegedly harbored him.
“People with that kind of conviction history and what they’ve done to escape from where they are working and into our community is a serious offense,” said Smith. “You never know what somebody in that desperate situation could do when they’re on the run and wanting to get away.”
Rutherford is currently at the Franklin County jail waiting to be extradited to the correctional institute.
