Police in B.C. have caught an inmate who escaped from custody in Alberta on Monday with the help of an armed, masked man.
Peace River RCMP said in a statement that Harley John Lay, 29, has been located and is now in police custody. Two other individuals were also arrested, after officers stopped a vehicle near Fort Nelson, B.C. at about 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Police will provide an update on any charges when the information becomes available, the statement said.
Lay escaped after he was taken from correctional officers at approximately 10 a.m. on Monday morning.
Police say the correctional officers were taking Lay from the Peace River Correctional Centre to the Peace River Hospital for medical treatment, when an armed man wearing a mask confronted them outside the hospital. Peace River is located about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
The masked man, who was accompanied by another man who acted as a getaway driver, demanded the officers release Lay. The officers, who were unarmed, did not resist and let the prisoner go.
Lay and the two other men took off in a beige Dodge minivan that was last seen on 74 Street in Peace River, possibly heading towards Highway 2.
Lay, whose criminal record dates back to 2004, was being held in the Peace River remand centre on 16 charges, including assaulting an RCMP officer with bear spray, evading police, and unlawful confinement. His trial was scheduled to begin in May.
