A “dangerous” pedophile who evaded cops at a Missouri hospital while serving a 30-year prison sentence has been recaptured.
Panic descended on St. Louis, Missouri, after Tommy Wayne Boyd, a 45-year-old child sex offender, managed to go on the run after walking out of Mercy Hospital South.
He was being treated at the hospital, described as the only designated Level II Trauma Center in either South St. Louis County or Jefferson County, before making his escape.
Police warned the public Boyd was “dangerous” as the hospital and surrounding area went into a state of lockdown to find the pedophile.
But in a statement, St. Louis County Police said after an extensive manhunt – which involved federal, state and local authorities – Boyd was “taken into custody without incident”.
They thanked the public, who offered up “numerous tips to assist in locating this dangerous felon”.
The statement added: “Our residents are safer tonight with Boyd in custody.”
Boyd had gone on the run on Thursday morning and will return to his sentence of 30 years behind bars.
He was sentenced back in 2007 on a conviction of felony enticement of a child.
The crime Boyd committed came in 1996 – when he sodomized an 11-year-old, Missouri State Highway Patrol’s sex offender registry shows.
Boyd had been transferred to the hospital from Potosi Correctional Facility on Wednesday before he was spotted on CCTV leaving the facility by foot.
In a statement, cops said: “Early this morning, a prison inmate in the custody of two correction officers escaped custody while at Mercy South.”
They added: “There was no physical confrontation, no one was hurt, and video surveillance, which we have shared with police, shows the escapee leaving the hospital.
“There is no evidence he is still on campus, but to ensure the safety of everyone, we are conducting a complete search of all our buildings.”
It comes as cops searched for another inmate who had been accidentally released – this time 240 miles away in Indianapolis.
Kevin Mason, a 28-year-old arrested on September 11, was released due to a clerical error, according to Indiana’s Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
