JONESBORO, Ark. – Three youth sex offenders considered violent offenders ran out of a Jonesboro treatment center late Thursday night, accompanied by three girls, prompting a police search, a state official said.
Marcus Galloway, Shawn Hester and Richard Richards, all 17, ran out a door of the Consolidated Youth Services, a contract facility for the state, said Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Human Services. The boys broke a glass window, allowing three other girls at the facility to run away with them, Munsell said.
Munsell said she had no description for the girls, who were not in state custody.
"The doors typically are locked to keep outsiders out, but they're not typically locked down in the same manner that you'd think a detention facility would be," Munsell said.
Munsell said officials contacted the Arkansas State Police and local agencies where the boys were from.
Officials described Galloway, from Conway, as a six-foot-four, white, with brown hair and eyes, weighing 145 pounds with a scar on his left arm. Officials list Hester, originally from Yakima, Wash., as white, six-foot, 212 pounds, with red hair and brown eyes. Richards, from Greenbrier, is described as a white, five-foot-eight, 148 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.
"Considering that they are in for sexual assault and rape charges ... we do consider them violent offenders," Munsell said. "Obviously, we want to get them back into custody but we do have some concern they could be a danger to others."
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