LAKE CITY, Fla. -- A Columbia County Detention Facility inmate assigned to a work detail escaped Tuesday morning and was captured just hours later, according to a release from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
John J. Keene, 29, was working near the intersection of S.W. Pinemount Avenue and S.W. Birley Road when he ran into a nearby neighborhood around 10:15 a.m.
Deputies set up a perimeter of the area and received help from the Florida Department of Corrections and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Keene was tracked to the Magical Terrace area, where he asked a driver to give him a ride to the Challenge Learning Center, which is a few blocks from his house.
He then went to a friend's home near his house, where he hid in a bedroom closet. Keene was taken into custody without incident around 12:10 p.m. His friend, Felipe Ortega, was arrested, accused of aiding and abetting.
Keene was originally arrested on narcotics charges and is awaiting trial.
First Coast News