Statesman staff reports
BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Bloomfield Public Schools were locked down for approximately 20 minutes Wednesday afternoon after a 17-year-old prisoner escaped from a vehicle while stopped at the On The Go convenience store on Highway 25 in Bloomfield.
Bloomfield Superintendent Toni Hill said the school was notified by the sheriff's office that a prisoner had escaped at approximately 1:15 p.m. The school was immediately locked down, which is customary in that situation. The school lifted the lock down about 20 minutes later when notified that the prisoner had been apprehended.
Stoddard County Sheriff Carl Hefner said a van from Lakeland Behavioral Health Systems in Springfield was transporting detainees, one of which was being transported to the Stoddard County Juvenile Detention Facility in the Justice Center in Bloomfield. Another detainee, the 17-year-old, was being transported to a facility in Charleston.
The detainee bound for Charleston got away from authorities when the van stopped at On The Go.
Hefner said he was apprehended within 15 to 20 minutes, and the school was notified that the prisoner was back in custody.
There were no incidents while the detainee was at-large, according to Hefner.