Escaped Prisoner Captured In Canton

CANTON, GA — A Connecticut inmate who has been on the run for a little more than a week has surfaced in Cherokee County. The Canton Police Department said it has arrested 25-year-old Jerry Mercado, who went missing from the Carl Robinson Correctional Institution in Enfield on Sunday, Jan. 7.

A Canton officer was contacted around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday from the Connecticut State Police, who told the patrol sergeant they confirmed Mercado made a phone call earlier in the day from the Chevron gas station at 370 Marietta Road.

Canton officers responded to the area, and verified that Mercado was previously in the store and obtained a good physical description for him. The sergeant also reached out to representatives at Action Church, who said Mercado stayed at its emergency warming shelter Tuesday evening and believed he was planning to return to the facility on Wednesday.

A store clerk at the Chevron station called 9-1-1 to report Mercado was back at the store, and a patrol officer was able to see the subject inside the store. Other police arrived at the gas station and took Mercado into custody without incident.

Mercado was last seen around 10:20 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 7, a previous Patch report indicates. He was convicted in August 2016 of third-degree burglary and stealing a firearm, both felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of interfering with police, has been serving an eight-year sentence, suspended after three years and three years' probation, judicial records show.

Image via Connecticut Department of Corrections