SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio — The Scioto County Sheriff's Office is searching for a man who escaped from a southern Ohio correctional facility on Saturday. Thomas Comberger is still on the run while four other inmates who escaped have been arrested.
The Star Community Justice Center called the sheriff's office just after 8 p.m. about the inmates escaping by possibly climbing a fence, according to Sheriff David Thoroughman.
Deputies contacted the center to get a list of names and descriptions of the inmates. The deputies were also given a description of a woman who was near the fence just before the escape.
When deputies arrived, they located the woman, identified as Allie Angelo. Deputies asked Angelo if she witnessed anything to do with the escape and she said no. Angelo matched the description of the woman near the fence and was detained, according to the sheriff's office.
Angelo came to the center with her ex-husband, Matthew Sladen, to help her fiancée Jeffrey Fields, escape, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies were able to locate Sladen at a Walmart in Waverly where officers with the Waverly Police Department detained him until deputies could arrive.
While deputies were speaking with Sladen, Fields was arrested on Junior Furnace Road. The Ohio State Highway Patrol also located and arrested escapee Clifford Morris on the same street.
Sheriff Thoroughman said deputies were dispatched to a property off Hayport Road in Porter Township for a call about two suspicious people Sunday morning.
Deputies arrived and found two people walking toward U.S. 52. The suspects ran from deputies.
A K-9 began tracking the suspects and found Aaron Brigeman. Brigeman appeared out of a wooded area and was arrested, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies asked Brigeman where the other escapee was and Brigeman advised them to look at the end of Selby Avenue near a mobile home. Walker Pence was found in the woods next to a mobile home and was arrested, the sheriff's office said.
Comberger, the only escapee who has not been caught, is described as a 46-year-old man who is 6 feet 4 inches tall, weighs 245 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes.
Anyone who finds Comberger is asked to call 911.
Angelo, 32, and Sladen, 31, were arrested and charged with aiding escape, a fourth-degree felony. Sladen was also charged with possession of criminal tools, a third-degree felony.
The escapees will face charges in their home counties.
The investigation of the escape is being handled by OSHP.
