Webster County escapee captured in West Virginia

by MATT HUGHES

J-E News Editor

According to Webster County Jailer Terry Elder, escaped inmate Marcle Jenkins, 29 of Kenova, WV, was arrested on Monday by authorities in West Virginia.

“I don’t have all of the details, but apparently he was running from the police again,” said Elder.

This time his attempted escape did not go as planned. During his flight from police, Jenkins apparently suffered a broken leg and is currently hospitalized, awaiting transport back to Webster County.

The Kentucky State Police (KSP) reported this morning that at approximately 2:43 a.m. on Memorial Day morning, Webster County inmate, 29-year-old Marcle G. Jenkins escaped custody while at Baptist Health in Madisonville to receive treatment for a reported head injury. He was incarcerated for burglary 1st, possession of burglary tools and fleeing/evading police on foot.

The burglary charge stems from an arrest in January when Ashland Police responded to a burglary call. Jenkins reportedly led officers on a half mile foot chase through the snow before being apprehended. But that’s not the first time Jenkins ran from police.

Jenkins was in the news in 2008 for another successful escape. At the time he was in police custody for burglary charges in West Virginia and was voluntarily leading Wayne County (WV)  Sheriff’s Deputies to stolen loot he claimed to have hidden near I-64.

Jail officials have reported that at the time of his escape, they were unaware of Jenkins’ record.

“We no longer get records on paper,” Elder said. “When we get an out of county inmate we have to get their records off of the Department of Correction’s (DOC) website.”

Elder said the DOC moved all of their records from paper to the “Coms” system in 2009. Although it’s been a very reliable system, it is dependant on people to enter the information into the computer, a process that takes time.

“When Jenkins was transferred in we checked the system,” he said. “When it got to his charges all it said was ‘unavailable.’ If we had known he had a history of running from the police we would have taken extra precautions.”