TULSA, Okla. — The Rogers County Sheriff is praising the efforts of his community after two dangerous escaped inmates were found in his county Sunday evening.
Sheriff Scott Walton said they are still waiting to learn how the men escaped the Moore Detention Center in Okmulgee.
“Their exact path from Okmulgee to Claremore I am not certain no one is. Obviously at the completion of their jailbreak they stole a vehicle from Okmulgee that we recovered,” said Walton. “Anybody will tell you a detention facility is a hotel from hell and it needs to be managed just that way.”
He said his office had five deputies on staff and had to call in reserves to help hold a perimeter with other agencies around the home where the two men were in rural Rogers County.
The escaped men, Dustin Marris, 33, who was convicted for shooting with intent to kill involving Okmulgee County police and and Coker Barker, 35, who was facing federal murder charges, may have had some help to get to the home they holed up in.
“There was other people in that house and learned that there were cameras to monitor our activity outside there. The information I got that those cameras were monitored on a big screen. They obviously knew we were coming,” Martin explained.
He told FOX23 that communication was not great on the front end of the ordeal but is happy his deputies as well as his community stepped up to support, everything from donating ATV equipment and food.
For a sheriff’s office his size, it was a tough task.
“It shows you again how much this community supports law enforcement,” Walton recalled.
Eventually gas was deployed by one of his men and the two escaped inmates were put back into cuffs.
“It did not start off the way that we wanted it to but it ended the way we wanted it to,” said Walton. “I want to thank everyone who had something to do with it,” Walton explained.
FOX23 has reached out to the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office, and we were told they were not handling the investigation. We also reached out to Okmulgee County Criminal Justice Authority and US Marshal’s office to find out how the inmates escaped but haven’t heard back.