LIMA, Ohio — Two inmates, including one imprisoned for murder, escaped from the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution, the state prison system announced Tuesday afternoon.
The men were identified by authorities as Bradley Gillespie, 50, imprisoned since 2016 on a murder charge out of Paulding County, and James Lee, 47, in prison since last year on charges of burglary, breaking and entering, safecracking, and a judicial sanction.
"These individuals should be considered dangerous," the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction said. "Anyone who sees either of these individuals or has any information regarding their whereabouts should call 911 immediately."
Hours later, the U.S. Marshals Service announced a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to their arrests. The reward is being offered by the marshals service’s Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force and the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Gillespie is 6 feet tall, weights 200 pounds, and has blue eyes. He is bald. Lee, who was sent to prison on charges out of Allen and Auglaize counties, is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs 300 pounds, and has blue eyes and brown hair.
The announcement did not specify how the men escaped or when.
The highway patrol is on-site and leading the investigation.
The corrections department said prison officials are working closely with local law enforcement to search for and apprehend the men.
Anyone who has information regarding the whereabouts of the inmates can contact the state patrol's Findlay post tip line at 1-419-423-1414, the prisons department announced via social media later Tuesday.
On Sept. 11, 2014, three people escaped from the same Lima prison, including Thomas “TJ” Lane, who killed three students at Chardon High School in 2012.
At that time, the escapees used a makeshift 13½-foot ladder to climb over a security fence onto the roof of an administrative building and jumped about 15 feet to the ground. They fled across a soybean field. The ladder was fashioned in a crawlspace-like maintenance area off an Oakwood recreational yard after the inmates broke a padlock. The locks were later upgraded.
All three escapees were captured within hours.
The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association union representing correctional officers noted that staff brought security concerns to officials’ attention prior to the 2014 escape.
First Published May 23, 2023, 6:57 p.m.
