JACKSON, Miss. – Police say a man accused of using a stun gun in rapes in Mississippi and Louisiana was briefly jailed but released during a weeklong crime spree.
Authorities say James H. Crockett of Chalmette, La., was jailed on a drug charge in Alabama after the first two attacks but before a third attempted rape.
Florence Detective David Bradley says Crockett had handcuffs and a stun gun, but he wasn't yet a suspect in the rapes.
A profile from that arrest was sent to officers across the Southeast. Crockett was captured again near Huntsville, Ala., after a multistate manhunt and a car chase.
He is charged with sexual assaults in Hattiesburg, Miss., and Baton Rouge, La. He is also suspected in an attempted assault in Hammond, La. Authorities did not know if he had a lawyer.
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