Stephens County Jail Escapee Captured Early Friday

A jail escapee from Stephens County is back behind bars after jumping the jail fence and running on Wednesday.

24-year-old Calvin McCoy was captured by Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies early Friday morning.

According to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley, McCoy was found hiding out in the home on Memorial Drive where he used to live.

McCoy was able to escape  the Stephens County Jail unnoticed last Wednesday morning while jail workers were unloading a delivery truck.

Immediately following the escape, deputies responded to the area of Prather Bridge Road and Camp Mikel Road, where deputies met with a citizen who had reported a citing of the fugitive.

But by Thursday, Sheriff Shirley announced they believed McCoy, who was from Ohio, may have left the area. That all changed Thursday night.

“Just before midnight on January 16th 2020, units of the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office were surveilling the last known address of Calvin McCoy on Memorial Drive,” Sheriff Shirley said.  “McCoy was believed to be in the vicinity of the residence. When deputies arrived they found a backpack in an outlying shed that possibly belonged to McCoy. Deputies began sweeping the area.”

He said deputies began sweeping the area.  Then, he said based upon the ongoing surveillance, deputies and investigators approached the residence again just after daylight and found that McCoy had returned.

“After the residence was searched, deputies checked the attic and found McCoy hiding under boxes,” the Sheriff said. “McCoy is currently being held in the Stephens County Jail and is charged with felony escape and felony obstruction of a deputy sheriff in addition to his initial charges of burglary.”

The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank all the agencies that assisted in the apprehension of McCoy; Georgia State Patrol Post 7, Georgia State Patrol Aviation, The Toccoa Police Department, and Lee Arrendale State Prison Canine Apprehension Team. We would also like to thank the community for their patience and support during our tireless search for McCoy, as well as McDonald’s and Camp Mikell for their generosity in providing food and water during the past couple of days and night,” Shirley concluded.