2 days ago
Second inmate who escaped from Franklin County facility arrested
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A second inmate who escaped from a minimum security facility in Franklin County has been arrested.
Michael Norton, 31, was taken into custody on Friday and faces a felony escape charge, according to Franklin County Jail booking records. On May 22, Norton escaped from the Franklin County Community-Based Correctional Facility on the 1700 block of Alum Creek Drive alongside three other inmates. The four men escaped by breaking a window.
Another inmate who fled from the facility, Jeremy Bowen, was arrested on May 25. The two other escapees, Nikko Burton and Mark Long, have not yet been apprehended.
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Norton was serving six month sentence for a 2022 breaking and entering conviction, followed by two years of community control. Bowen previously pleaded guilty to burglary charges in three separate incidents in 2014, 2015, and 2016 and was sentenced to three years in prison, followed by an undetermined amount of community control time.
Burton was serving a three-year sentence of community control for receiving stolen property. However, in September 2024, he was charged with absconding from the facility, and an additional six months were added to his sentence in February.
Long pleaded guilty to theft in 2024 and was sentenced to three years of community control, but, like Burton, he absconded from the jurisdiction of the court in August 2024. His probation was revoked in December.
The Franklin County correctional facility is a minimum security prison diversion program for adult male offenders, according to its website. A spokesperson with the facility previously told NBC4 the escape is being investigated by the sheriff's office and the facility's internal administration.
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