Crime

Escaped prison inmate found driving mother’s stolen car in Durham, police say

An inmate who left his work-release assignment in Durham was found early Tuesday morning driving a car he stole from his mother, authorities said.

Robert Terrell, 42, a minimum-security inmate from the Orange Correctional Center in Hillsborough, left his work release assignment Monday evening. He was last seen at at 6 p.m. on East Club Boulevard in Durham, according to an N.C. Department of Public Safety press release.

Terrell was stopped at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday by Durham police and state troopers, according to the Department of Public Safety.

He was stopped at Cornwallis Road and South Roxboro Street “driving a car stolen from his mother,” the press release states.

Terrell, who was serving a nearly seven-year sentence as a habitual felon, was due for release in August 2020. He will now face escape and larceny of a vehicle charges.

Terrell was the ninth state inmate to leave a work-release site in 2019, WRAL reported. All were later caught.

Roughly 1,200 minimum-security inmates a day are on work-release, the station reported.

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This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 10:51 PM with the headline "Escaped prison inmate found driving mother’s stolen car in Durham, police say."

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Jessica Banov
The News & Observer
Jessica Banov is an editor and audience growth specialist at The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun. She is the night Breaking News Editor for McClatchy’s Southeast region and The N&O’s Features Editor. She also serves as The News & Observer’s intern program coordinator.
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