From Staff Reports
A state inmate that escaped from the Greene County Jail early Saturday has been captured.
Billy Takoda Hinton, 22, who escaped from the Greene Co. Jail between sometime between 2:30 and 5 a.m. Saturday, was captured in Baldwin County, Ala. around mid-day Sunday. Details were limited, but according to Chief Deputy Brad Warrick, Hinton was captured after federal marshals and Baldwin County deputies paid a visit to a residence belonging to a woman believed to be his girlfriend. Hinton did not give up easily and reportedly bolted from the residence after police arrived and was ableto steal a car and lead police in Alabama on a chase, which eventually ended in Hinton wrecking the GMC Suburban he was in. His time on the run ended after a K-9 unit tracked him through a wooded area in Baldwin County.
Hinton escaped after managing to gain entrance into the attic above the cell he was in and make his way to an unsecured area of the jail to escape.
After leaving the jail, Hinton somehow made his way to Wild Country Off Road ATV park where he allegedly stole a GMC sports utility vehicle. Warrick said around 10 a.m. Saturday that vehicle had been found near Tibbie, Ala. Saturday morning where it apparently had ran out of gas. Warrick said a man matching Hinton’s description approached a home near where the vehicle was found and was allowed by the homeowner to use a phone to make a couple calls. The Washington County Sheriff’s office received a report of a black Toyota Tacoma being stolen from a home not far from that residence Hinton is a suspect in that case and is believed to have left the area in that pickup.
Hinton was in the county jail waiting to be picked up by t
he Department of Corrections to begin serving a 7-year sentence for burglary of a church and violation of probation. He was sentenced in 2017 after pleading guilty to a 2016 break-in of a church on U.S. 98 near the Greene and George County line.
On top of the sentence he was facing, Hinton now faces three new charges for auto theft, along with escape and multiple other charges in Mississippi and Alabama. A conviction for escape will reportedly add an additional five years (day-for-day) to his sentence.
Hinton’s reported girlfriend, whose name was not available at the time of this report, was arrested and is reportedly being charged for aiding and abetting a known fugitive.
