by Teresa Eubanks, Journal Editor
WILLIAM MERCER
An inmate is in custody and a correctional officer is out of a job following a weekend escape from the Calhoun County Jail.
Three days after he slipped out of the jail in Blountstown, dog tracking teams caught up with William L. Mercer, 49, about 35 miles away in the Jackson County community of Greenwood.
It was around midnight Friday when one inmate was released from the jail and another was being brought in, according to Calhoun County Sheriff Glenn Kimbrel. Mercer, who was serving as a jail trustee, was sent to change out some bed linen during the transition and take it to a storage area. He fled from the jail after breaking a lock on a door in the kitchen.
The correctional officer on duty, Jay Goodman, later submitted his resignation.
Mercer was one of 18 people arrested in a Calhoun County drug sweep last month. He was being held on a charge of conspiracy to purchase methamphetamine.
Following his capture Monday afternoon, Mercer is being held by Jackson County authorities and will later be transferred to Walton County, where he is facing other charges. Kimbrel said Mercer had previously served a 15 year prison sentence for bank robbery about 20 years ago. More recently, authorities in Florida and Alabama have issued warrants for his arrest for armed burglaries, the sheriff said.
Saturday, helicopters flew over the area near the Trammel Bridge and dog teams were put out beside the Airport Motel on SR 20.
Searchers believed Mercer was still nearby but dogs could not pick up a track. It was later learned that Mercer hurt his knee after stepping into a hole, limiting his movements and forcing him to stay put for awhile, according to Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Bobby Revell. Mercer spent most of the time hidden out under the Trammel Bridge, Revell said.
On Sunday night, Liberty County Deputy Josh Shepherd stopped to talk with a transient traveling through Hosford and learned the man had talked with Mercer that morning.
“Hey, have you caught that guy yet?” the man asked the deputy. He then told Shepard that he had seen Mercer in the woods that morning, shared some coffee with him and gave him some ibuprofen for his injured knee. He said Mercer had asked for directions and he told him how to get to SR 69.
Kimbrel said Mercer told the man that he had escaped from the county jail and knew he was in trouble.
Monday afternoon, a woman called Blountstown Police Chief Mark Mallory to tell him she had given man a ride from SR 69 into Jackson County after he offered to pay her $200. She said she allowed him to make a call on her cell phone. She stated that she did not get the money he promised after she dropped him off at Sylvania Plantation Road in Greenwood.
Mallory advised the sheriff’s offices in Calhoun County and Jackson County of the call.
Thirty minutes after a dog tracking team was put out in a wooded area in Greenwood, Mercer was found in a peanut field and taken into custody without incident, according to Captain Emory Godwin of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office. After being given a medical evaluation at the hospital, he was booked into the Jackson County Jail.
The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, with help from Calhoun County Correctional Institution, Liberty County Correctional Institution, Jackson County Correctional Institution, Apalachee Correctional Institution, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, FHP, Florida Wildlife Commission, and the Blountstown Police Department, took part in the search for Mercer.