“Armed and dangerous” inmate escapes custody in Kentucky, sheriff says

Authorities are currently trying to locate an inmate who escaped from custody in Kentucky this week. The inmate, Kyle Aaron Skaggs, is considered “armed and dangerous,” according to the Fleming County Sheriff’s Office.

Skaggs broke out of custody in Lexington, the sheriff’s office said on Facebook, adding that he lived in Flemingsburg prior to his incarceration. The inmate is said to have left a home incarceration program at the Hope Center, a shelter and community services organization, on Monday, CBS affiliate WKYT reported, citing the Kentucky Department of Corrections. 

Officials did not reveal what Skaggs had been charged with or any other details about the circumstances of his incarceration.

The Fleming County Sheriff and Kentucky State Police are asking that anyone with information about Skaggs’ whereabouts contact either the Fleming County Dispatch at 606-845-2121 or state police at 606-784-4127.

Skaggs’ escape from custody follows a series of other prison breaks by inmates in Mississippi, Virginia and Pennsylvania in recent weeks. 

In April, four inmates, Corey Harrison, Casey Grayson, Jerry Raynes and Dylan Arrington, escaped from the Raymond Detention Center near Jackson, allegedly with help from an acquaintance now charged with aiding and abetting. The last of the Mississippi escapees, Harrison, was captured earlier this month after extensive manhunts that covered multiple states. Arrington and Grayson were each found dead, and the former inmate was wanted in connection with a pastor’s murder and carjacking in Jackson.

Then, over the weekend, authorities in Philadelphia said two inmates escaped a detention center by cutting a hole in a fence surrounding the property. The inmates have been identified as Ameen Hurst, who is accused in the shooting deaths of four people, and Nasir Grant. Police said they did not learn of the inmates’ escape from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center until Monday afternoon, about 18 hours after the escape supposedly took place the previous evening.

Also this month, two inmates escaped a jail in Virginia. Alder Marin-Sotelo, who was charged in the 2022 killing of a North Carolina sheriff’s deputy, was captured in Mexico last week. The other inmate, Bruce Callahan, was taken into custody on a college campus in Virginia early Monday.