Two minimum custody offenders who escaped from Morrison Correctional Institution in Hoffman this morning were apprehended while hiding in the crawlspace of a residence in Hamlet this evening.
Josh Ashworth, 18, (#1534173) and Brandon McDurmon, 22, (#1601999) were captured without incident by members of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and the Hamlet Police Department.
The offenders were last seen at breakfast in the prison between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. and an all-day search ended when a property owner came home, noticed someone had tampered with the cover to the home’s crawlspace and called the authorities.
The offenders will be charged with escape and with breaking into a second residence near the house where they were caught around 6:15 p.m.
Ashworth was serving a three-year sentence for felony breaking and entering, while McDurmon was serving a two-year and two-month sentence for possession of a firearm by a felon.
Also participating in the search were members of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and others.