Escaped Inmates May Have Robbed Hunters

Authorities have launched a statewide search for two prison inmates who left a work crew and may have robbed two hunters of their guns.

Department of Correction spokesman Keith Acree said Thursday that authorities believe inmates Cloman Smith and Jesse McCrobie robbed two hunters in Northampton County late Wednesday night. He said the two had walked away from a work crew at a local poultry house that afternoon.

Authorities believe Smith and McCrobie took two rifles, a handgun, cash and a 2005 F-150 pickup truck with a North Carolina license plate WXN-9873.
The inmates were reportedly spotted on I-40 near I-95 overnight and Keith Acree, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction, said lawmen in Onslow County believe a vehicle they chased this morning was a vehicle the inmates stole Wednesday night, according to the Lafayette Observer.

"We're still trying to confirm that," Acree said.

Smith is a 30-year-old serving more than 12 years as a habitual felon; 27-year-old McCrobie is serving more than three years for larceny, breaking and entering and other charges. Both were being held at the minimum security Tillery Correctional Center.