GODFREY - Two escaped prisoners from Gibson County, Tenn., were arrested early this morning after forced entry at a residence in the 4700 block of Iroquois Drive in Godfrey, near Clifton Terrace and the Great River Road.
The U.S. Marshal’s office and Madison County Sheriff’s office both responded to the home to make the arrests. The two apprehended were Jason Clapper, 32, and Joseph Isbell, 30.
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Tom Woods of the U.S. Marshal’s office for the Southern District of Illinois, said his office was contacted around midnight last night from the marshal’s office in Jackson, Tenn.
“The marshal’s office there said they developed information on where the two escaped prisoners were and called us,” he said. “We were first notified around 12:30 a.m., then we briefed around 5 a.m. and we hit the house around 6 a.m. with Madison County Sheriff’s deputies. There was a stolen truck recovered from the address as well and the truck was reportedly stolen out of Florida.”
Woods said when the U.S. Marshal’s reps and Madison County Sheriff’s Department entered the home, the two men “played like they were asleep.” Woods added that the house was vacant at the time of the arrests with the exception of the two fugitives.
“The two men were taken without incident,” Woods said.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Department took the men for holding and the deputies also recovered the stolen vehicle from the scene.
In Jackson, Tenn., U.S. Marshal Jeff Holt announced today that the two men had escaped from the Gibson County Jail last week. Clapper and Isbell escaped from the Gibson County Correctional complex in Trenton on Nov. 11. The two escaped by breaking a fence and climbing out of a recreation yard at the facility. Both men were in jail for probation violations and have long criminal histories.
Cl
apper, who is a convicted Sex Offender has convictions for Criminal Sexual Abuse and Possession of a Weapon by a Convicted Felon. Isbell has convictions for Aggravated Burglary and Theft. Clapper is listed on the Illinois Sex Offender Site for a conviction. He is listed as a sexual predator on the site.
Holt said the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force became involved shortly after a request for assistance came from Sheriff Paul Thomas. The joint investigation which followed indicated the two fugitives may have stolen a car and fled Tennessee. This morning acting on a tip, marshals in Godfrey located the two escapees at a home of a family member. Marshals there say both men were taken into custody without incident and transported to a local jail to await extradition back to Tennessee.
The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force (GCRFTF) is a wing of the U.S. Marshals Service and has offices in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The Jackson, TN office consists of Deputy U.S. Marshals, Investigators with the Jackson Police Department and Investigators with the Tennessee Department of Correction. Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov/.
The next step for the two captured fugitives will be a return to Gibson County where they will face charges for escaping a chain-link fence with barbed wire between security rounds, reported the Gibson County Sheriff's Office.
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