Jail

Springdale police are investigating the death of an inmate in the city's jail. Officers say Steven Herbert was being held in the detox unit Friday morning and asked to use the restroom. Police found the 40-year old in the bathroom, unconscious and unresponsive; he was pronounced dead at the hospital. Investigators have sent blood samples to the state crime lab for a toxicology analysis.

HOWELL COUNTY -- The Howell County Sheriff's Department is on the lookout for an escaped jail trustee. Lloyd Miller, 33, left the jail in West Plains on Wednesday.  He was behind bars on numerous burglary charges. Miller is likely headed toward Springfield or east to his hometown of Alton. If you see him or know of his whereabouts, call your local police station immediately.

LOCKWOOD, Mo. -- The Lockwood police chief and her dog tracked down and captured William Smith in a farm field near Greenfield on Friday afternoon.  Smith broke out of the Dade County jail early Monday morning.   He eluded authorities when they surrounded a mobile home on Wednesday night. Smith's brother and two other people are in jail on charges of harboring a fugitive and running a meth lab in the trailer. (Photo by Cletis McConnell, The Greenfield Vedette)

SPRINGFIELD -- A man is in jail after a brief standoff  with police in north-central Springfield.      Officers were called to a domestic disturbance at a house near Nichols Street and Grant Avenue on Sunday night around 5 o'clock.     When police arrived, they heard shots fired inside the home. Everyone came out except for the suspected shooter, but after a short standoff, he gave up and was arrested.      No one was hurt.

An Arkansas man convicted of killing his father with a crossbow in 1999, is back in jail. Twenty-six-year-old Justin Trammell faces several drug charges after Springdale police found marijuana in his hotel room. He pleaded guilty to similar charges in October, and violated his probation by staying at the hotel. Trammell was convicted of first degree murder in 2000 after killing his father, he was 15 at the time.

JOPLIN, Mo., --  Thousands of volunteers have poured into Joplin since the deadly tornado hit in May. Some volunteers helping to rebuild the town are from an unlikely place-- the local jail. Joplin police say the inmates are eager to give back, and it helps them by taking a day off their sentence for every day worked.       Offenders with a history of violent crimes are not allowed to participate. The prisoners are cleaning Landreth Park this weekend to prepare it for the Fourth of July festivities this Monday.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  - A New Mexico man is jailed after police say he handed out samples of yogurt tainted with semen. Anthony Garcia faces charges of adulterating food and making false statements to federal investigators.  He has yet to enter a plea after his indictment Wednesday. Garcia gave away the samples at a Sunflower Market in Albuquerque in January.  Detectives say a shopper reported an employee had given her the tainted sample.  She told police she thought it was bodily fluid.  Tests confirmed it contained semen.  DNA linked it to Garcia.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Mo. -- The Howell County Sheriff's Department says two of the three inmates who escaped from the county jail in West Plains were captured about 6 p.m. Monday.  They are Daniel Wilson, 26, and Shawn Clark, 21.  Searchers thought the third man, Carey Reese, 33, likely was close by. Clark, Wilson and Reese broke out of jail about 6:30 Sunday morning by overpowering a jailer, swiping his keys and stealing his truck. The men left in the jailer's 2007 white Chevrolet single cab truck with a Missouri license plate number of 4AJ189.

REPUBLIC, Mo.-- One of five men charged for severely beating a man in Republic in was sentenced Friday. The incident, where four people were held hostage and three girls allegedly strip-searched, happened in January 2011 at the Alpine Village Mobile Home Park. 21 year-old Aaron Kurek pled guilty in May to first degree assault and armed criminal action in the attack on Thomas Oliver the second.    Kurek was sentenced to fifteen years in jail. Davey Montgomery, Larry Shaw and Shaun Launius are also charged and awaiting trial.   Kenneth Shaw pled guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. -- A jailer was hurt after an inmate bit him during a struggle at the Baxter County Jail. Sheriff John Montgomery said the assault was Tuesday.  Bradley Edmonston, serving time for a variety of charges, became upset when jail staff searched his cell.  Edmonston caused a disturbance and jailers called him back inside from the recreation yard to lock down, and a struggle ensued. Montgomery said Edmonston bit jailer Jamie Binnion on the arm as he struggled with Binnion and two other members of the jail staff.  Staff eventually brought Edmonston under control by using pepper spray.

BRANSON, Mo. -- The Taney County prosecuting attorney charged a man with assaulting a man who was found dead in an apartment on Friday afternoon.  Sean Roberson is not charged with murder yet because investigators have not determined the cause of death. As of Saturday, Roberson faces assault, armed criminal action and burglary charges.  Branson police haven't released the victim's name yet but Ivan Valentin says the victim was his brother, Andros Valentin. He says he found his brother's body in a bathtub at the Park Place Apartments.

BARRY COUNTY, Mo --  On Tuesday, voters in Barry County will decide on a sales tax for law enforcement. It's one-eighth of a cent sales tax that the sheriff says would generated $450 thousand dollars. That's money he says the department needs to play catch up from hard times. The slogan is to Protect and Serve but due to budget cuts Justin Ruark couldn't do that. "Last year they ran short on funding. Laid four of us off, I was one of the four," he said. He got his job back, but he'd like to see the other deputies return.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. - The Pulaski County jail is closed for repairs.  Sheriff Ron Long said late Friday afternoon that the repairs would take several weeks.  He said details about the repairs and the jail closure would be released on Sunday. While the jail is closed, Pulaski County inmates will be housed in jails in nearby counties.  Pulaski County has paid to house prisoners in nearby county jails, including Miller and Phelps, for many years when its jail got full.  Long said his deputies would continue to arrest people and lock them up while the jail is closed.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- One of the men charged for the deaths of a couple from Willard is out of jail.  The Taney County Sheriff's Department says Robert Campbell posted a $500,000 bond on Wednesday.    Campbell is one of five people charged for the deaths of Rusty and Rebecca Porter.  Campbell pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder last week. Campbell is Rusty Porter's uncle.  The Porters disappeared from their home near Willard in April 2011.  Their remains were found three months later in rural Taney County.  Another suspect, Dusty Hicks, is scheduled to appear in Taney County Circuit Court on Thursday morning.

FORSYTH, Mo. -- A Taney County grand jury indicted a fifth person for the deaths of Rusty and Becky Porter of rural Greene County.   Robert Campbell is in the Taney County jail on two counts of first-degree murder.  Campbell is a brother of Rusty Porter's mother, Kay Simmons. The indictment says Campbell provided "consideration to one or more persons" to kill the Porters, and they accepted Campbell's offer.  It does not name the persons who accepted the offer. The couple, who lives northeast of Willard, disappeared in April 2011.  Their bodies turned up in a remote rural area of Taney County near Pro Tem in July 2011.   Campbell lives just a few houses away from the site of the Porters' home on Highway HH.  (The Porters' home burned down several months after their murders.)

EMINENCE, Mo. -- A manhunt is underway for an inmate who walked away from the Shannon County Jail.  John Bressler, 31, was last seen on Tuesday afternoon.  Shannon County officials say he is not considered to be dangerous. Bressler was in jail on a city ordinance charge of stealing.  After returning from court, he walked away about 2:10.  The sheriff says he was not armed when he left the jail and "was in no way aggressive toward the staff or the other inmates" while he was in custody.

DIXON, Mo. --The Pulaski County Sheriff's Department is on the lookout for an inmate who escaped from the county jail in Dixon early Monday morning. Sheriff J.B. King says two men were able to break out as a third man distracted an on-duty dispatcher.  Shortly after the jail break, the two escaped inmates broke into a home on Burlington Road near Crocker and robbed the family. Shortly after the robbery, one of the suspects was found in a nearby abandoned house. At this time the remaining inmate, Brandon Kelley Monell, age 23, who is from the Crocker area is still at large.  Monell was being held on a charge of statutory rape.

WAYNESVILLE, Mo. -- Two men who fled from the Dixon city jail on Sunday night were charged on Monday with escaping from confinement, just hours after both were back in custody.  They also are charged for a burglary in the wee hours of Monday morning.  Prosecutors also charged another inmate who is believed to have helped them get away. Officers caught Brandon Monell, 23, of Crocker, about 9:45 Monday morning at ahomesouth of Crocker.  The other escapee, Joseph Esparza, 23, of Devils Elbow, was arrested near Crocker about 3:25 a.m. The inmates escaped from the Dixon city jail around 11:15 p.m. Sunday.  The Pulaski County sheriff says a third inmate distracted a jailer, allowing the other two to escape.   Jacob Mason, 28, of Dixon is now charged with attempted escape from confinement.

BOONE COUNTY, Ark -- A pipe bomb turned over to police in Harrison, Arkansas, on Thursday belonged to a county jail inmate, according to the Boone County sheriff.   Sheriff Danny Hickman said Ricky Mathis, 40, admitted to investigators he made the explosive device and planned to use it on a fishing trip. A man from Harrison discovered the device in his garage among other items belonging to Mathis. Mathis is charged with criminal use of prohibited weapons with his bond set at $250,000.