Escape leads youth lockup to fire worker
2 boys nabbed in Lewisville spent 12 hours on the run
Two teenagers broke out of a state-run youth lockup last week, prompting officials to fire one of the jail’s supervisors.
The boys were detained at the Lewisville Juvenile Treatment Center when they disappeared at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 21. Sheriff’s deputies found them at 9 a.m. the next day walking along a rural road, not long after they apparently burglarized a small church, authorities said. No injuries were reported during the escape.
The Department of Human Services decided to fire the supervisor after learning he had “failed to follow procedures” and sent the teens “unsupervised across the campus,” said Amy Webb, an agency spokesman.
A statement prepared by the Lafayette County sheriff’s office details the getaway.
Deputies and state Division of Youth Services staff had combed the vicinity of the Lewisville facility for nearly five hours, unable to find the 16and 17-year-olds.
A tip called in the following morning led investigators to the two missing teens, who were spotted walking along a remote section of road in the rural outskirts of Lewisville, 7½ miles directly — or 14 miles if traveling via the county highways — from the jail.
The boys were apprehended without incident, but they now face charges of escape, criminal mischief and burglary. During their time on the run, authorities said, the teens took undisclosed “items” from Cross Roads Baptist Church, which sits, mostly encircled by fields thick with trees, a stone’s throw from where they were found.
On Wednesday, the 8th Judicial Circuit prosecuting attorney’s office could not confirm whether the boys would be charged as adults. Webb said they have been relocated to a more secure, county-run juvenile detention center, but their placement “will be determined at a later date.”
The incident is at least the second successful escape reported from the Lewisville facility since 2016. The Human Services Department did not notify the media of the missing teens.
Lewisville is one of seven state-operated youth lockups that will be returned to private control sometime next year.
The centers had been operated by nonprofits for two decades before Gov. Asa Hutchinson directed the Human Services Department to take over their operation in January after a bidding process on a new contract went awry.
Earlier this month, the department fired the director of a staterun juvenile jail in Harrisburg after a string of recent escapes that occurred under his watch.