Bobby Junior Campbell, a former inmate at G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility who was released in November from Barbour County Jail after presentation of a fake court document, was recaptured last Thursday (Dec. 5) in Montgomery.
According to Alabama Department of Corrections officials, Campbell was classified last week as an escapee when the paper that authorized his release was determined to be bogus. Based on that document, he was transferred from Fountain Correctional, near Atmore, to the custody of the Barbour County Sherriff’s Office on Nov. 17. He was released from the county facility the same day.
“ADOC officials reported Campbell’s release as an escape … after corrections officials discovered a fraudulent court document in his file ordering his transfer from the Fountain Correctional Facility to the Barbour County Jail and subsequent release,” said Bob Horton, public information manager for the state prison system.
Officials said the authenticity of the fraudulent order came into question when a person’s name authorizing the transfer and release could not be validated.
The 37-year-old inmate, who was sentenced to serve 20 years after a 2004 conviction in Houston County for second-degree rape against a 13-year-old girl, was taken into custody by ADOC detectives around 2 p.m. last Thursday at a capital city hotel. An Elmore County man who was released from prison in 2015 was with Campbell and was also arrested.
Campbell and Mitchell Shane Worthy, 24, who is suspected of aiding Campbell in his escape, surrendered to authorities without incident, DOC officials reported. Horton said Campbell faces a charge of escape from state custody, while Worthy will be charged with aiding an escaped inmate.
Worthy received a three-year prison sentence on a 2004 theft conviction in Elmore County and was released from prison in October 2015. His connection with Campbell is not known at this time.
Horton said Monday that the ADOC’s investigation is ongoing into Campbell’s escape and the circumstances leading to his release.