Alabama officer accused of helping inmate escape is no longer a sheriff’s office employee


An Alabama prison officer accused of helping an inmate escape from jail he is no longer employed at the sheriff’s office, the sheriff said Wednesday.

Sheriff Rick Singleton confirmed to NBC News that Vicky White is no longer with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office, but would not say if she had been fired.

“Vicky White’s employment status is currently ‘No Longer Employed by the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Office,'” Singleton said in a statement. “Friday was her last day of work, however, her retirement papers were not finalized. This is a personnel issue that will be discussed at a later date.”

Vicky White, 56, is wanted on a charge of allowing or facilitating the escape of inmate Casey White from the Lauderdale County Detention Center in Florence, about 70 miles west of Huntsville. The escape occurred the same day that she was leaving the apartment. Vicky and Casey White are not related.

Singleton said in an interview with the NBC News affiliate in Huntsville WAFF that he could not comment on whether the former corrections officer would lose her pension, but told the station that he “cannot access it at this time.” A spokesman for the sheriff’s office declined to provide further details.

Authorities have been searching for Vicky and Casey White since last week. The couple was released from jail Friday morning for a purported mental health evaluation in court, but investigators have since learned there was no such evaluation scheduled, Singleton said.

Vicky White, Casey White (Lauderdale County Sheriff)

Vicky White, Casey White (Lauderdale County Sheriff)

As she was leaving, Vicky White told a booking officer that she was going to a medical appointment after dropping off Casey White, who was jailed on a capital murder charge in the stabbing death of Connie Ridgeway. She confessed to the murder and was awaiting trial in jail when he disappeared.

The sheriff said investigators learned that Vicky White did not have a scheduled medical appointment. Singleton also said she transported the inmate herself, which violates department policy that requires two sworn officers to be present with an inmate facing such charges.

The sheriff said they believe Vicky White willingly helped Casey White escape.

“I think all of our employees and myself included really hoped that she was not willingly involved in this. But everything indicates that she absolutely did it”, Singleton he said on “Good Morning America.”

The sheriff’s office previously said the two had a “special relationship.” Singleton told WAFF that he was not physical or sexual in nature. She said that Vicky White contacted Casey White in 2020 when he was at his facility and that she stayed in contact with him when he was transferred back to the Department of Corrections.

“And obviously she had contact with him when he came back here on February 25,” the sheriff told WAFF. “I have no information that there has been physical contact. The contact that I am aware of and the special treatment that he received was that she took very good care of him while he was here. To see that she had extra food, to see that she had other things that prisoners don’t normally have…nothing that was contraband. There was obviously a relationship there.”

Vicky White also kept in touch with the inmate when she was off work, according to the sheriff.

The US Marshals Service is offering up to $5,000 for information leading to the capture of Vicky White and up to $10,000 for Casey White.

Singleton told ABC that investigators “really have no idea” where Vicky and Casey White might be. He said they were making progress tracking the couple’s whereabouts, but that he was stymied when information about the vehicle they were traveling in was released.

“We are still working around the clock to locate them and try to get them back into custody,” the sheriff said.

This story first appeared in NBCNews.com.



Reference-news.yahoo.com

Leave a Comment