Crime & Safety
Escaped Convict Captured In Gardendale
A man who escaped from a south Alabama work detail has been captured by law enforcement in Gardendale.
GARDENDALE, AL - A Jefferson County man who escaped a work release custody in south Alabama has been captured near Gardendale. William Justin Cole, 36, escaped Tuesday from work detail at Loxley Work Release Center in Baldwin County.
The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force captured Cole in the parking lot of the Gardendale Walmart early Wednesday afternoon.
An Alabama Media Group report said Cole stole a 2012 Ford Focus from a home on Cherry Avenue Tuesday night. At the time of his arrest, Emily Hunter Burr was with him and also taken into custody. The stolen vehicle was recovered at the scene of the arrest.
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Cole is serving a three-year sentence on a drug possession conviction. He has a lengthy criminal history and made the news in 2016 after leading lawmen on an interstate chase, while he was on a stolen ATV.
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