White Supremacist Leader Captured After Prison Break

Gang leader, 2nd inmate escaped Ark. facility
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 2, 2019 12:15 AM CDT
White Supremacist Leader Captured After Prison Break
This booking photo provided by the Jefferson County, Ark., Sheriff's Office, Wednesday, July 31, 2019 shows Wesley Gullett.   (Jefferson County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Authorities on Thursday captured two fugitives, including a white supremacist gang leader, who escaped from an Arkansas jail and whose disappearance may have gone unnoticed for more than a day. Wesley Gullett, 30, was captured after he was found walking alone down a highway in Dover, which is about 100 miles northwest of the Jefferson County jail in Pine Bluff from which he escaped, authorities said. He surrendered without incident and was taken to the Pope County jail. Hours later, Christopher Sanderson, 34, surrendered to federal marshals and Arkansas State Police troopers in the Ozark National Forest near Pelsor, about 120 miles northwest of Pine Bluff, said US Marshals Service spokesman Kevin Sanders. Sanderson was severely dehydrated and was taken to a hospital for treatment, Sanders said.

Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the men were last seen at the county jail in Pine Bluff at around 8:30pm Monday. But it wasn't until 4:30am on Wednesday that officials noticed they were missing, even though Woods said several other inmates tried to escape Tuesday but were quickly captured after a drone spotted them on the roof. Gullett is among 54 members of the New Aryan Empire who have been indicted on federal charges and is listed in court documents as the gang's "outside" president who oversaw all gang activities by members who weren't in prison, the AP reports. Prosecutors say the gang has about 5,000 members. Sanderson, 34, was being held on federal gun and drug charges.

(More prison break stories.)

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