Actions

Last of 3 escaped Florida inmates captured in New Mexico

Posted at 9:34 AM, Nov 17, 2017
and last updated 2018-03-09 06:50:27-05

WAKULLA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say they've captured the last of three inmates who escaped from a Florida county jail last year.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports 45-year-old Donald Cotterman was arrested Wednesday at a Las Cruces, New Mexico, motel, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from the border with Mexico.

The sheriff's office in Wakulla County, Florida, says Cotterman, along with Casey Martina and Joel Cooper, escaped in November after breaking through the ceiling of the jail's law library.

Officials say Martina was captured in Rockwell, North Carolina, about a week after the escape, and Cooper was arrested recently in Phoenix, Arizona.

The sheriff's office says the men were involved in several ATM thefts, home burglaries and other crimes while free. Investigators believe they might have had outside help, but no arrests have been reported.