Inmates charged with aiding escapee

CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) - Four inmates at the Chesapeake Correctional Center are charged with helping a fellow inmate escape.

The Chesapeake Sheriff's Office confirms 40-year-old Clancy Dan Starling has been missing from Chesapeake City Jail since Monday at 2:30 p.m.

Major David Hackworth says Starling was outside during open recreation time for inmates when investigators believe he slipped under the fence with the help of other inmates. Hackworth says a head count was done at 6 p.m., but the deputies doing the head count somehow missed the fact that Starling was not there.

No one noticed until Tuesday's headcount at 6 a.m. that Starling had escaped.

Major Hackworth says it is unclear right now how authorities missed his disappearance, but they are working to find out.

Four inmates, identified as Michael Eugene Darnell, Travis Christian, Thomas Martin Evans and Keith Kenyon McAdoo were charged with aid felon or escape jail facility.

According to authorities, the four men will now face an additional 1-5 year sentence to what they were orginally jailed for.

Darnell was serving time for revocation of suspended assistance for six months and driving with a revoked license for ten days. Christian was originally serving time for three years total for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and grand larceny. McAdoo was serving a total of a year and a half for a failure of identification, damaging property and simple assault. He is also awaiting sentencing for a damage property charge. Evans was originally jailed for a failure to comply with a court order, and was set to serve 30 days.

The Sheriff's Office says Starling was last seen wearing a white tank top under a white t-shirt, blue shorts and white tennis shoes. He is 5-foot-8, 150 pounds, has brown hair and hazel eyes. Starling also has a right shoulder tribal tattoo, a sun tattoo on his neck and a half-sleeve tattoo on his left arm.

Officials say Starling was sentenced on a probation violation that includes two counts of burglary and two counts of larceny. He has 15 years left to serve. He was also sentenced to two years for grand larceny on Virginia Beach charges.

The Chesapeake Sheriff's Office, Chesapeake Police and the U.S. Marshals Office are looking for Starling.

Hackworth says they do not consider Starling armed and dangerous at this time. Anyone who may see Starling is asked to not approach him, but to contact the Chesapeake Police non-emergency number at 757-382-6161.