White-Supremacist Gang Leader Captured After Escaping From Arkansas Jail
CAUGHT
Bertrand Guay/Reuters
A white-supremacist gang leader and another inmate who escaped from the Jefferson County Detention Center in Arkansas Wednesday morning have been captured, according to authorities. Wesley Gullett, the leader of the New Aryan Empire, was being held at the jail on charges of attempted murder and illegal drug distribution. He escaped along with another inmate, Christopher Sanderson, the U.S. Marshals Service said. Jefferson County Sheriff Lafayette Woods Jr. told The Pine Bluff Commercial that Gullett and Sanderson put “dummy bodies” in their beds during a bed check, and that a staffing shortage made the facility vulnerable to a possible escape. Gullett was later spotted during a routine patrol and taken into custody without incident, according to authorities. A few hours later in the Ozark National Forest, about 120 miles northwest of Pine Bluff, Sanderson surrendered to federal marshals and Arkansas State Police troopers, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Kevin Sanders told the AP. Federal prosecutors charged 54 members of New Aryan Empire, including Gullett, in February for allegedly dealing meth, attempting to commit murder, and kidnapping and maiming informants.