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City, N.D. – The search is over for a convicted sex offender who bolted from a prison transport van Tuesday at a rest stop west of Tower City. Authorities issued a code red for residents to keep their doors locked until the escapee was captured Wednesday about 2:30pm in a corn field.
Barnes County Chief Deputy Sheriff Don Fiebiger say Joseph Megna was being transported from New Hampshire to the state of Washington along with six other prisoners when he escaped through an unlock side door in the van. Megna was not shackled or handcuffed.
Feibiger told NewsDakota.com that one of the security officers driving the van owned by Extradition Transport America went into the bathroom while another was apparently watching the van and the inmates.
He says the inmate wearing civilian clothes unlatched a van side door and bolted across the west bound land of Interstate 94 and into a cornfield.
Law enforcement officials from seven agencies, including Barnes, Cass and Stutsman counties, and area city law enforcement officers help search for the escapee near Tower City.
Highway Patrol Captain Bryan Niewind says a fixed wing aircraft using an infrared device all night long looking for Megna.
Megna is 29-year old convicted sex offender who was being transported from the east coast to the west coast in prisoner transport van.