DUBOIS, Pa. (EYT) — A Jefferson County Jail inmate who walked away from a work release program in DuBois last Friday morning has been captured, authorities say.
According to Jefferson County Jail Warden Dustin Myers, 58-year-old John Russ Moon was apprehended by the PSP Task Force on Wednesday afternoon, November 12. He was located at his girlfriend’s house in White Oak, near Pittsburgh, in Allegheny County.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Moon has not yet been returned to the Jefferson County Jail, Myers said.
Myers noted that Moon was under probation supervision, not the jail’s, when he left the program.
The capture comes after Punxsutawney-based State Police filed the following new charges against Moon on Monday, November 10, in Magisterial District Judge David B. Inzana’s office:
- Escape, Felony 3
- Flight To Avoid Apprehension/Trial/Punishment, Misdemeanor 2
The charges stem from the November 7 incident.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Moon walked off a job site at his work release program in DuBois, Clearfield County, around 7:50 a.m. on Friday, November 7. Moon was an inmate at the Jefferson County Jail.
The complaint states that jail officials received a phone call from Moon’s girlfriend around 6:21 a.m. that morning. She told a records coordinator that Moon “was going to leave his work release program,” the affidavit states. A deputy warden told police that, at that time, staff did not believe Moon would leave because he was incarcerated for unpaid fines, according to the complaint. The official also described Moon as “flying under the radar” regarding his behavior, the complaint continues.
Punxsutawney-based State Police were given recordings of the phone calls between Moon and his girlfriend around 9:30 a.m. The complaint notes that when state police spoke to Moon’s girlfriend, she said that Moon had called her and “wanted to get out of jail,” but she thought he was “just talkin’ out his ***.” She also told police Moon wanted her to drive from her home near Pittsburgh to pick him up. She told him she could not because she did not have a car, the complaint indicates.
According to the complaint, a second person who was with the girlfriend during a call told police Moon said he found out his daughter had died. Moon told his girlfriend that he received mail stating he no longer had to pay child support because his daughter was dead, and this was the first he had heard of it, the complaint indicates.
According to the complaint, the White Oak Police Department in Allegheny County was contacted after a witness reportedly saw Moon enter his sister’s home. The complaint says that White Oak Police searched the residence and confirmed Moon had been there, but he was not present at the time.
The case was transferred on November 12 to Magisterial District Judge Gregory M. Bazylak’s jurisdiction.
