PAINTSVILLE MAN WHO WAS MAGOFFIN COUNTY INMATE ESCAPES FROM BIG SANDY REGIONAL DETENTION CENTER AFTER BEING RETURNED FROM HIS COURT HEARING: ESCAPED INMATE THOMAS WADE PRICE WAS ARRESTED IN LOUISA TWO WEEKS AGO FOR CHARGES INCLUDING WARRANTS OUT OF MAGOFFIN AND PIKE COUNTIES, IS NOW WANTED FOR OFFENSES IN FOUR COUNTIES, HAS MASSIVE CRIMINAL HISTORY RAP SHEET.
DID LATEST OVERCROWDING AT REGIONAL JAIL THIS WEEKEND CONTRIBUTE TO HIS ESCAPE??
JUNE 27, 2017 – written by WADE QUEEN
A Paintsville man who was recently arrested in Louisa on two 2015 warrants out of Magoffin County for allegedly stealing checks from the office at the Salyersville Dairy Queen and using four of the checks to buy or attempt to buy items from numerous stores, made a sudden escape from the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center after being returned to the jail from his hearing in Magoffin Couty Court. And the jail remains on lockdown as of Tuesday morning, according to a news press release from the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center.
Thomas Wade Price, 30, of Paintsville, escaped around 1:20 p.m. Monday as he was being returned from a court hearing in Salyersville.
An employee with the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center spotted Price running on the bank of Paint Creek in Johnson County. Thomas Price has not been apprehended as of late Tuesday morning.
Thomas Wade Price was in custody on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including criminal possession of a forged instrument, as well as a bench warrant in Pike County for violating his probation and parole.
Thomas Wade Price was arrested June 14 at the Louisa Walmart, on two Magoffin County warrants. The first warrant, against Price is a charged is (1) theft by unlawful taking or disputing all others ($500 or more but under $10,000) and (2) criminal possession of a forged instrument (second degree). The charges allege that on October 18, 2015, Price, who then worked at Dairy Queen in
Salyersville, went into the businesses office and took 12 checks on the account of Salyersville Foods, Inc., DBA Dairy Queen, drawn on the Salyersville National Bank. Price allegedly used three of the stolen checks the next day at Lowes (written for $613.74), Walmart (two checks, written for $300 and $500), and attempted to use one for $1,000 at Tractor Supply to buy a gift card, though the store would not accept the check.
In a separate warrant, Price is accused of pawning a Stihl leaf blower backpack he had allegedly stolen from the owner of Dairy Queen on October 10, 2015. The owners of the pawn shop in Paintsville provided a copy of the pawn receipt to law enforcement and the backpack at the pawn shop had the same monogramming the victim had described.
At his June 14 arrest at the Louisa Wal-Mart, Thomas Wade Price was taken into custody at 6:57 P.M., by patrolman officer Steven Wilburn of the Louisa Police Department, and was charged with: • RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY UNDER/$10,000, • CRIMINAL POSSESSION OF FORGED INSTRUMENT 2ND DEGREE (IDENTIFY) – [ 2 SEPARATE COUNTS ], • PROBATION VIOLATION (FOR FELONY OFFENSE), • THEFT BY UNLAWFUL TAKING OR DISPOSITION ALL OTHERS $500 OR MORE BUT UNDER/$10,000 ( 2 SEPARATE COUNTS), • NON PAYMENT OF FINES, • FAILURE TO APPEAR, • PROBATION VIOLATION (FOR FELONY OFFENSE).
Price was lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center on a $5,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Monday, June 26 at 9:15 AM at the Magoffin County Justice Center in Salyersville.
Thomas Wade Price has one huge mountain of a criminal record past, as his latest arrest in Louisa marked at least 32 times he has been arrested, on nearly 100 felony and misdemeanor charges and other citations, in over a dozen counties throughout Kentucky, since February 2005.
Anyone who has any information about Thomas Wade Price’s whereabouts are asked to call the Kentucky State Police or their local law enforcement agencies.
NOTE- As of Thursday afternoon Price was still on the loose, BSRDC officials said.
