Jail Employee Charged In Escape Of Inmate Who Had Standoff With Police Near DNC

HERNANDO, Miss. (AP) — A former employee of a Mississippi jail has been arrested and charged in the June escape of Joshua Zimmerman, an inmate who fled to Chicago and was captured there last week after a 15-hour standoff with police at a restaurant just blocks from the Democratic National Convention . Ronnie Hunt was charged with conveying articles useful for the escape of a prisoner, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesperson Bailey Martin said Tuesday.

Martin said “additional charges are probable.” She did not respond to a question about whether Hunt is represented by an attorney. The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department said Hunt, 32, has been fired from his job as a deputy jailer, WREG-TV reported.

He was being held about an hour’s drive away in the jail in Lafayette County, Mississippi. The U.S.

Marshals Service said Zimmerman escaped June 14 from the DeSoto County Courthouse in Hernando, Mississippi, where he was being held on attempted murder and armed robbery charges. He was also awaiting extradition to Houston, where he’s charged with murder, the Marshals Service said. Investigators said last week that they believe Zimmerman was working at the seafood restaurant where he was captured.

The restaurant is about a half-mile from the United Center, where the political convention was being held. The Marshals Service said there was “no connection or threat to the event or those attending.” Zimmerman was wearing street clothes, not a jail jumpsuit, wh.