UPDATE 4/25/2019 – The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department says a trustee who escaped while on work detail Wednesday in Southaven has been captured in Alcorn County.
The truck belonging to DeSoto County Schools which Robert Gene Heath is accused of stealing for his getaway was recovered.
Heath faces additional charges as he is returned to the DeSoto County jail Thursday afternoon.
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SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (localmemphis.com) 4/24/2019 – The DeSoto County Sheriff’s Department is on the hunt for an inmate who escaped from work detail in Southaven Wednesday.
Investigators say 42-year-old Robert Gene Heath of Adamsville, Tennessee, was working as trusty at the DeSoto County Schools bus maintenance facility on Central Parkway when he took off Wednesday afternoon. They say he took a 2008 Ford F150 belonging to the schools to make his getaway.
Heath was serving three-week sentence on a shoplifting conviction in Hernando.
DeSoto County Schools sent Local 24 News the following statement:
A DeSoto County Schools vehicle was stolen today by a trusty working at a bus maintenance facility. The trusty was not on a school campus, and he was not around students. No schools had to be placed on lockdown.
Anyone with information on Heath’s whereabouts is asked to call the Desoto County Sheriff’s Department at 662-469-8027.
