The Woodward News

Local News

February 8, 2010

Escapees remain at large

Update: The three escapees remained at large Monday morning and they may be considered armed and dangerous. Authorities said they possibly broke into a rural home sometime Saturday and may have taken some firearms. At least one of the inmates is thought to have changed clothes.

According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the men are thought to have a vehicle, a 1983 blue/gray GMC 1-ton truck with a metal service style bed similar to a phone company or mechanics truck, with the crane winch in the center of the bend.



Three inmates who escaped Friday evening from William S. Key Correctional Center were still at large Saturday as state law enforcement, officers from the surrounding area and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation continued their search.

Jake Trout, 22; Dennis W. Finch, 20; and Christopher D. Hibl, 20 were all discovered missing during a 9 p.m. inmate count Friday.

Trout is a white male, 5’ 11” tall, weighs 169 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes. He also has numerous tattoos, including the Yankees logo and “SVN” on his abdomen, and an angel, an Asian symbol, a cross, fish and “TROUT” on his back.

Trout was being held on burglary, forgery and bogus check charges and a previous escape.

Finch is a white male 5’7” tall, weighs 150 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. He has several tattoos, including one on his abdomen that bears the word, “Jamie,” one on his neck that bears the words, “California Boy,” and one on his upper right arm that bears the acronym “USMC.”

Finch was being held on numerous burglary charges.

Hibl is a white male 6’2” tall, weighs 240 pounds with brown hair and hazel eyes. His identifying body marks include burn scars on his neck as well as a number of tattoos, including the word “FAMOUS” on his abdomen, a tombstone and “In loving memory of Laudie Hible" on his back, “Winners make it happen, losers make excuses” on his left arm, “TRAE 6-11-08” and drama masks on his right arm and pot leaf tatoos on the back of both his calves.

Hibl was being held on charges of possession of stolen property and knwingly concealing stolen property as well as a charge for attempting to elude authorities.

The three men were being kept in the Regimented Inmate Discipline (RID) unit, which is a delayed sentecing unit, and apparently escaped through a window and somehow made it around a fence surrounding the unit, said William Monday, deputy warden at William S. Key.

“We assume they went over the fence or through a gate," Monday said, noting "we can’t find any damage anywhere.”

The gates to the fence “are not real tight,” he said, adding that the purpose of the fence is to keep them away from the general population offenders.

When the three men were confirmed missing, the deputy warden said,“we conducted a search of the facility and immediately started paging law officers and set up a perimeter to look for signs of them in the immediate area.”

“We have a list of law enforcement and citizens we call to be on the lookout for an escapee,” he said, noting the media is also notified.

However, as the search continued Saturday, Monday said authorities were running short on leads.

“There have been no stolen cars, no signs of entries or break-ins anywhere, and no leads whatsoever,” Monday said of the escapees. “Their hometowns are checking out leads and making sure the families aren’t helping them.”

As inmates in the RID unit, Monday said the three men had had “a chance to go home and get this off their record.”

But after "they walked off the prison grounds" Friday night, he said they now face new felony escape charges and more prison time.

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