By JOAN McCOY
Leader staff writer
The Lonoke County Sheriff is looking for a Butlerville man who walked away from a hospital April 30 wearing an ankle monitoring device.
The escape is the second for Roy Moore, 41, who was arrested April 11 for residential burglary and theft of property in his mother’s Butlerville neighborhood.
Sheriff John Staley said a doctor who takes care of patients at the jail said when Moore was arrested that he was ill so he was released without bond to go to the hospital.
Staley said a hospital bill of $10,000 to $15,000 could wipe out his budget for health care, so releasing prisoners so they can get medical help is common.
Moore ran and they caught him and took him back to the jail where the doctor told them he was gravely ill with a possible blood clot above his heart.
“The reason we had to take him back to the hospital was because the doctor said he could die,” the sheriff said.
A jailer stayed with him at Springhill Baptist for about three days. But when it appeared Moore would be temporarily incapacitated during tests, the ankle monitor was put on, the jailer left and so did Moore.
Staley said he walked past a security guard on the way out.
“We believe he may have stolen a car down there,” he said. “There was one missing from the area.”
Staley said Moore obviously removed the tracking device shortly after he left the hospital but that he probably had to wear the bracelet for a while because they are very hard to remove.
He apparently spent at least one night in the woods before going to a relative’s home.
The sheriff said prisoners accused of violent crimes are not released with ankle monitors. But Moore isn’t violent. “He’s a drug abuser who’s trying to feed a habit,” the sheriff said.
Ankle monitors are a good way to prevent overcrowding problems and medical expenses, but Moore won’t be released with one again, he said.
The sheriff said he has leads about Moore’s whereabouts.
“We’ll have him back in a couple of days,” he said.
Anyone with information should call the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office at 501-676-3000 or local law enforcement agencies.
