Inmate Caught After Beer Run
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:44 p.m. ET
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- An inmate who broke out of jail to go on a beer run was caught when he tried to sneak back in, officials said.
Mark Delude, 39, was reported missing Friday night from the St. Johnsbury work camp, but troopers arrived to find him inside the fence with a 24-pack of beer and a carton of cigarettes.
He apparently crawled under the fence, walked the mile and a half to the nearest convenience store, made his purchases and returned, officials said.
The work camp is for nonviolent offenders serving short sentences, and the fence is not intended to be impenetrable, Correctional Service Director Dick Turner said.
Delude was transferred to a more secure prison. He had been serving an eight- to 30-month sentence for minor offenses, but the beer run could get him two more years behind bars.
State Police Lt. George Hacking, a 21-year police veteran, said it was the first case of its kind he'd investigated. ``But nothing surprises me,'' he said.
