Escaped W.Va. inmate captured in Mexico

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --  A West Virginia inmate who escaped from a jail two days before his sentencing has been captured in Mexico at the U.S. border with Texas, authorities said. 

West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesman Lawrence Messina said in a statement that Todd Wayne Boyes, 44, of Caldwell, Ohio, was captured early Sunday.

A statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Boyes was apprehended in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, and turned over by Mexican immigration officers to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at a bridge leading into Laredo, Texas.

Boyes was given a medical evaluation, then taken to the Webb County Jail in Texas.

Boyes had changed into civilian clothes and escaped the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston on Wednesday, but the jail staff didn't notice until Thursday evening. A review of the facility's jail's security video showed Boyes leaving the facility the previous morning.

Boyes was scheduled to be sentenced Friday to up to 20 years in prison on charges including fleeing and possession of a stolen car.

He was initially charged with attempted murder after Charleston police Cpl. Renee Smith was hurt during a pursuit to arrest him, but the charge was dropped in a September plea deal.

According to investigators, the 5-foot-6, 220-pound Boyes obtained khaki pants and a dark green or grey jacket he wore to escape by posing as a civilian or jail trusty.

Three end-of-shift head counts failed to alert jail staff to his disappearance.

Messina said four jail employees have been suspended without pay pending the results of an investigation.

Correction: A previous version of this story reported erroneously the U.S. agency involved in the inmate's apprehension and where he was captured. The agency was the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, not the U.S. Border Patrol. Todd Wayne Boyes was captured in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, not Laredo, Texas.