KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Three weeks after he broke out of a prisoner transport van, a man who was in custody for rape remains on the run.
Sean Williams faces serious charges in East Tennessee, in both federal and state court. The last reported sighting of Sean Williams, was on Oct. 18, the day he escaped.
"We contract out transportation and housing of our inmates to local jails mainly," said David Jolley, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Tennessee. "Laurel County was transporting Williams from Laurel County, Kentucky to the Greeneville courthouse for a court hearing that was scheduled for the afternoon. That morning as they arrived, it was found that he was missing from the transport van, that he had exited through a back window that had been broken out of the of the van."
Jolley says he was being kept in Kentucky after a previous escape attempt in Washington County. He says the transport van had a camera, but it wasn't working.
"Being an escape risk, I would expect him to be transported with handcuffs, a belly chain, a black box, a master lock, and then shackled," said Aubrey Land, a law enforcement, prison, and jail expert witness. "And the way that that works, he really cannot get his hands around to manipulate the locking system."
When asked how fugitives usually get caught, Land said he didn't want to give away anything to someone on the run, but he says Williams will eventually make mistakes.
"He's gonna make some common errors," said Land. "And as he does the Marshal Service and other law enforcement professionals are going to begin to draw that circle around him."
The U.S. Marshals Service is running electronic billboards in several states near Tennessee asking for information about Williams' location.
"We certainly have to keep all options open, that he may have left Tennessee. He could still be on foot," said Jolley. "We got to think about that. He could have been picked up by some associate of some sort, in receiving some assistance and could possibly be still in Tennessee."
Jolley says Williams should be considered dangerous.
"I would consider him to be a desperate fugitive who would do anything to keep from going back," said Jolley. "I would totally consider him to be a very dangerous individual and looking at, you know, we know from his criminal past, the things that he's accused of, and that he is a very dangerous man."
And Land agrees.
"This guy is not someone that any community would want in their area," said Land. "He is also desperate. So anyone that you see that fits this description. Contact your local law enforcement, let them check it out. Don't try and apprehend him yourself. Just pick up the phone, call 911."
There is a combined reward of up to $7,500 from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Jolley says anyone helping Williams evade capture will face serious consequences.
"Anybody that is found to be assisting, Sean Williams in any shape, form or fashion, we will prosecute for aiding and abetting and any other charges that we can put on them for assisting him," said Jolley.