Youth detention center escapee captured
Rondarious Ragsdale scaled building to escape
Rondarious Ragsdale scaled building to escape
Rondarious Ragsdale scaled building to escape
A teenager who escaped the Henley-Young Youth Detention Center has been captured, Sheriff Tyree Jones said.
Rondarious Ragsdale, 17, was taken into custody at a home in North Jackson, Jones said.
Ragsdale escaped about 7 p.m. Tuesday while he and other detainees were outside playing basketball. The teenager, who was being held on a business burglary charge, was able to get by two guards on the grounds.
"This individual scaled the building, to the top of the building. I mean, that's not natural," said County Administrator Kenny Wayne Jones. "This individual has an extreme athleticism to do what he was able to do, and it's not within the regular nature of anybody to be able to do that."
"When you go over the basketball goal, that's something nobody took in account," Jones said. "The only way you could've actually put hands on him was an open shot or something like that."
Ragsdale was booked under the alias Andrew Matthews. Jones believes Ragsdale decided to escape after officers realized he was booked under the wrong name.
"He hadn't been in long. Once we alerted him that we suspected fraud, that's when he decided that he had to go," County Administrator Jones said.
County workers spent Wednesday morning making changes to the facility to prevent any other detainees from doing what Ragsdale did.
Ragsdale is now facing additional escape charges, authorities said.