PRINCE GOERGE COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — An inmate escaped from Federal Corrections Institution (FCI) Petersburg Tuesday night, who has still not been found.
On Tuesday, Sept. 12 just before 10:30 p.m., officials realized 50-year-old Charles Gore was said to have gone missing from a minimal security satellite camp of FCI Petersburg.
Back in April, the community saw a high-profile search for two Piedmont Regional Jail inmates who were found within about a week. More recently, the search has continued for a Greensville Correctional Center inmate, Naseem Roulack, who escaped while receiving treatment at a Henrico hospital on August 12.
The most recent escapee in the area, Charles Gore, is serving 10 years for drug-related crimes, including conspiring to sell heroin and cocaine.
Robert Howard, a resident that lives near the FCI Petersburg, said he had no idea there was any trouble.
“When I first heard about it — well, I just heard about it from you,” Howard said. “When I heard about it, I thought, ‘Well, they usually blow a whistle and three times to let people know someone escaped’.”
There are lingering questions about what exactly happened Tuesday night. The correctional center is technically located in Prince George County, but law enforcement in surrounding areas, like Hopewell and Petersburg, were also notified.
Some residents showed 8News screenshots of alerts they received from the Hopewell Police Department around midnight. Those notifications said three inmates escaped FCI Petersburg, but then returned to the facility.
However, on Wednesday morning, the Federal Bureau of Prisons sent out a press release confirming that Gore walked out of the facility and remains unaccounted for.
Our team asked Howard if he was scared.
“You can never tell what an inmate is going to do, but most of [those at the nearby facility] are low custody,” Howard explained. “I’m not afraid of them.”
The resident said that — decades ago — he was the target of a group of escaped inmates from the same facility.
“They stole a pickup truck by rewiring it,” Howard said. “They only got a little ways [before they were caught].”
Officials urge community members to keep an eye out for Gore, who investigators confirm is 5’8″ and weighs about 190 pounds.
The U.S. Marshals Service is leading this investigation. Anyone who thinks they have seen Gore should contact the service at 804-545-8501.
