Area law enforcement officers have recaptured two inmates who escaped from work release Sept. 18, the Hall County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday.
Joseph McAllister was recaptured just after midnight Saturday near Ga. 115 in Demorest by units from Hall County Sheriff’s Office Warrants Division, with assistance from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia State Patrol Aerial Unit.
Warrants Division agents were dispatched after receiving information that McAllister was in the area.
McAllister was spotted carrying a large knife and ran into the surrounding wooded area. He was tracked to an area around Habersham Mill Road and captured without incident after a five-hour search. The knife also was found in the area.
McAllister, 38, of Cleveland, was returned to the Hall County Jail.
The second man who escaped from work release along with McAllister was recaptured about two weeks ago, sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Stephen Wilbanks said.
Randall Darryl Ladd, 35, of Gainesville, also is being held in the jail.
“The investigators were following up on information that had led them to Jackson County. In most cases, they were a short time behind where he turned up,” Wilbanks said.
Ladd’s escape was foiled in the early afternoon of Sept. 25 by a flat tire, he said.
“He had a flat tire on his vehicle, and was trying to get someone to held him fix it. They located him before he was able to get it repaired,” Wilbanks said.
The Hall County Warrants Division kept information on his arrest close as they continued their investigation.
Warrant officers were tasked with the search of the men, acting on tips, technology and community ties. The pursuit began Sept. 22 when officers acted on a report of two suspicious subjects in the Ponderosa Farm Road area of South Hall.
One of the subjects was reportedly going door to door because his vehicle had run out of gas, the sheriff’s office said.
When deputies arrived, one of the subjects ran, but the other was not located. A vehicle registration check showed a vehicle at the scene belonged to a man wanted for failing to return to work release.
The sheriff’s office reported the men left the Barber Road work release facility Sept. 18, and neither returned.
While serving a period of incarceration, an inmate on work release may leave for work and when the shift ends, return to jail.
Both men were serving time for probation violations, and both carried prior escape charges.
Ladd left the work release center without permission in 1997, resulting in an escape charge. McAllister escaped from house arrest in 2008.
McAllister has a history of theft, forgery and other smaller charges, according to court records. Ladd has a history including a 2001 armed robbery and aggravated assault as well as theft charges in the late 1990s, according to court records.