TRAVERSE CITY -- A mistake by at least one Grand Traverse County Jail employee led to the escape of an inmate Thursday afternoon.
Sheriff Tom Bensley says a jail officer went to a cell to release another inmate and that's when Nicholas Yoder, 23, was let out of jail on accident. The sheriff says the inmate that was supposed to be released was asleep, and Yoder pretended to be that inmate.
Construction crews working along 8th Street and Boardman saw Yoder running through the Grand Traverse County Governmental Building parking lot in street clothes. Sheriff Bensley says he was allowed to change before he left the jail.
After an hour and a half search with a Michigan State Police helicopter, Traverse City Police officers, and Grand Traverse County deputies, Yoder was spotted near Central Elementary School.
Sheriff Bensley says Yoder was hiding behind shrubs in the school's garden in a new set of clothes and shaved. He was immediately arrested without incident.
Yoder is now being charged with Escape.
Authorities are trying to figure out where he went during his time away to get a new set of clothes and shave. If you have any information call the Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Bensley says he is reviewing the policies and procedures of the jail to see how something like this could happen. The employee that made the mistake could face ramifications, but the sheriff wouldn't say when he would make that decision.
Yoder has a lengthy criminal history including several B&E, Larceny, and Theft convictions.
