Suspect makes second jailbreak attempt
A Starkville man accused of attempted kidnapping made a second unsuccessful attempt to break out of the Oktibbeha County Jail on Tuesday, only hours after another attempt to escape was thwarted by corrections officers.
Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Office investigator Lt. Brett Watson told the
Starkville Daily
News 45-yearold John B.
Arnold, Jr., attempted to escape from isolated confinement Tuesday night and was later transferred to the high risk section of the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center.
Watson said corrections officers were frequently checking on Arnold after his initial attempt Tuesday afternoon to escape from the Oktibbeha County Jail’s exercise yard, where he assaulted an officer.
“We think he was trying to get through the roof of his cell through a vent,” Watson said. “He never was actually able to break the plane.”
Watson said Arnold did not have the opportunity to get the air vent down. No officers were injured during the incident.
At this time, Watson said they do not plan on charging Arnold with attempting to escape the jail and will proceed as planned with the current charges facing Arnold.
Municipal Court Judge Charles Haug on Wednesday afternoon set bond at $10 million each for two separate felony charges stemming from the initial attempt to escape the Oktibbeha County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. Bond for the additional charge of attempted kidnapping was set at $10 million on Monday.
However, Arnold’s bond on his first attempted kidnapping charge was revoked after he violated the terms by removing his court-mandated electronic monitor.
Arnold has now been formally charged with attempting to escape and simple assault on an officer, which brings his total bond amount to $30 million, Watson said.
Watson said he anticipates Arnold will be housed in the jail’s high-risk section from this point forward. He said the Oktibbeha County Jail can handle high-risk escape prisoners for a short period of time, but housing an inmate like Arnold is an unnecessary
stress to their employees.
“We can do it in the short term, but for a long period of time, especially if they are not going to be in general population, then it’s just not feasible for us to keep him here and Lowndes is better equipped to do that,” Watson said.
On Tuesday, Watson said Arnold attempted to escape while in the jail’s exercise yard some time after 3 p.m. He then assaulted the corrections officer who tried to subdue him.
Arnold tried to attack the officer without a weapon and
the officer was not seriously injured in the incident.
Prior to the second escape attempt, Arnold was scheduled to be arraigned for the latest charges on Wednesday at a undetermined time at the Oktibbeha County Jail.
Arnold was being held without bond and facing two felony counts of attempted kidnapping and two counts of contempt of court.
On Monday, Arnold had an appearance in Starkville Municipal Court, where he formally received a second attempted kidnapping charge
and two counts of contempt of court after he removed his court-mandated ankle monitor on Friday, Feb. 23, which prompted a large police manhunt.
After Arnold removed his ankle monitor near Carver Drive, he is accused of trying to take a student at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School from the school without the permission of the child’s mother or father, according to court documents provided to the Starkville Daily News through a public records request.
Arnold then sparked a large police manhunt in Starkville, but was apprehended by police a couple of hours later after being spotted by Oktibbeha County deputies on Greenfield Street near Sudduth Elementary.
Arnold is not related to the child he attempted to take from either school, but it is unclear what his connection to the child is.
Arnold was first charged with attempted kidnapping in early February, after he tried to check out a first
grade student at Sudduth Elementary without the guardian’s permission.
Investigators previously said Arnold has a history of violent offenses, which includes charges of assault, disorderly conduct, possession of a firearm by a felon and second degree battery in Louisiana.
Those convicted of attempted kidnapping in Mississippi face a minimum sentence of one year in prison and a maximum sentence of life, according to Mississippi Code 97-3-53.