Sept. 17, 2004 – The V.I. Police Department and corrections officers did not let the escape on Sept. 15 turn into the long manhunt that resulted from the Golden Grove Correctional Facility escape last June.
According to Sgt. Thomas Hannah, V.I. Police Department spokesman, Jason "Marco" Stevens, 38, was arrested in Christiansted near the Hill Street area just before midnight on Friday. The other prisoner who escaped last week from Golden Grove with Stevens, Julio Garcia, 46, had been arrested six hours after the escape.
The Bureau of Corrections had been alerted that Stevens had been seen in the Times Square area of Christiansted and officers began conducting a search there early in the evening.
Stevens evidently learned that the officers were searching for him and, according to Hannah, began fleeing through the yards of various residents. Two V.I. Police Department officers were called in to assist the three corrections officers.
According to Hannah, Stevens misjudged a fence he was jumping over and, when he landed, he broke his leg.
Hannah said the prisoner was returned to Golden Grove and was treated for his injuries.
In the June escape, Manuel Melendez remained free for three months before being apprehended last week. Suhmied Morris was apprehended within hours after that escape. (See "Citizens Credited With Helping to Recapture Escapee").
Garcia was apprehended along Melvin H. Evans Highway.
Garcia was incarcerated for sexual offenses. Stevens had been charged in connection with a robbery of a Jewelry store on Strand Street in Christiansted.
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