Sheriff: Escaped S.C. inmates had a "plan," one captured with rifle

ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. -- Inmates who escaped the Orangeburg County Detention Center Saturday night had a plan and help from both inside and outside the facility, Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell said Wednesday as he announced more arrests in the case.

"There's no doubt there was actually a plan," Ravenell said.

Tyshon Johnson, 25, who had been jailed on a murder charge, was apprehended Tuesday afternoon by U.S. Marshals in Winston-Salem, NC. Agents say they developed information Tuesday that Johnson was in the Winston-Salem area, and found him in a parked Ford Explorer at a Shell gas station around 2 p.m., reports CBS affiliate WLTX. Officers then surrounded the vehicle and took him into custody.

Officers determined the SUV was stolen, and a rifle was found behind the driver's seat.

Ravenell said Johnson was reaching for the rifle when he was apprehended, and he said he has "no doubt he was going to try and use it."

Johnson, along with Curtis Green, 20, and Christopher Boltin, 27, are accused of breaking out of the jail Saturday night. Boltin was re-captured on Sunday, but Green, who had also been jailed on a murder charge, remains on the run.

Ravenell urged Green to turn himself in.

'We ask you to just give up, turn yourself in, call us, we'll come pick you up," Ravenell said. "That's what you call an invitation, because we will get you."

Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young told the station the prisoners were able to exploit an electrical short that comprised the jail's security on the night of the escape. One inmate distracted a prison guard while others attacked him, spraying him with his own pepper spray, Ravenell said.

Young says the group then used blankets to climb over the barbed-wire fence.

"They had access to their bedding and stuff, so they snatched sheets and stuff out of their pod to throw across the wire to help get across the wire," Young told the station. "With all of the construction they ducked through one area and hit the wood line and probably got to the railroad tracks and probably just ran from there."

Green is believed to have injured his foot during the escape, Ravenell said.

Boltin's father, 51-year-old Hoyte Boltin, who police say helped his son after he left the prison, is also facing charges. Tyree Hillard, a resident outside the detention center, is also accused of assisting Green and Johnson in connection to the escape.

Ravenell said three other inmates are also now facing charges, one who distracted a guard, another who helped plan the escape and another who attempted to escape, but couldn't make it past a fence. More charges are expected, he said.