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After 15 years, inmate couldn't wait anymore

An inmate whose release was scheduled for January disappears while picking up trash along U.S. 19 just north of Tarpon Springs.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published July 13, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - After serving 15 years for burglary and theft, James Ford's freedom was just around the corner, tentatively scheduled for January.

Apparently, it couldn't come soon enough.

On Wednesday at 11:15 a.m., he was picking up trash along U.S. 19 northeast of Tarpon Springs on the Pinellas-Pasco county line when he vanished into nearby woods, officials said. Ford, 42, was still on the loose Wednesday evening.

Two employees at the state Transportation Department had been supervising Ford, who was considered a minimal-risk prisoner, department spokeswoman Marian Scorza said. How Ford, the only prisoner under their care, gave the employees the slip was unknown.

"Right now, we are gathering all the facts in the incident and once we have them, we will do an investigation," Scorza said.

Dogs picked up Ford's scent and tracked it to a spot in the woods where officials found his discarded prison-issue work clothes, said Gretl Plessinger, a Corrections Department spokeswoman.

It was unknown Wednesday how his escape would affect his release from prison.

Local authorities, including Tarpon Springs police and deputies in Pinellas and Pasco, were assisting in the search, officials said. Authorities, using an automated call system, were also alerting nearby residents with details about Ford, who is 5 feet 11 and weighs 194 pounds.

Ford had been in Corrections Department custody since 1991, when he was convicted in Pinellas County of burglary and grand theft, records show. He was most recently held at the Sumter Forestry Camp in Bushnell, Plessinger said, adding that he was not considered violent.

In August 1990, Ford was arrested by Clearwater police on charges of grand theft and burglary, records show. Details were not immediately available Wednesday.

Between 1981 and 1989, he was arrested several times, on charges ranging from residential burglary and selling marijuana to armed robbery and aggravated assault.

Efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful Wednesday, but Plessinger said authorities were asking relatives if they had any information on his whereabouts.

[Last modified July 13, 2006, 05:45:52]