North Carolina prison escapee turns himself in 40 years later

FRANKFORT, Ky., April 21 (UPI) -- A man who escaped from a North Carolina prison in 1972 called authorities in Kentucky to turn himself in and said he wants to "make this right."

Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton said a man using the name Clarence David Moore called deputies Monday to turn himself in and investigators determined he was the man who escaped from the former Polk Youth Institute in Butner, N.C., under the name David Edward Moore in 1972.

"I need to make this right and get through this," Melton quoted Moore, 66, as saying to authorities.

Melton said Moore, who was wheeled out of a house in a stretcher Monday, was taken to Frankfort Regional Medical Center for examination and will later be transferred to the Franklin County Jail.

Moore, who was convicted of larceny and had been scheduled for release from prison in 1978, told authorities he was in a car accident in 2009 in Franklin County, but he avoided being recaptured because he used a false name and did not have any identification on him when he spoke to police.

Melton said deputies obtained a contempt of court warrant stemming from the crash after Moore revealed his identity.

Moore was on the loose for a total 15,654 days between his escape and his call to authorities.

"If he agrees to be extradited willingly, our extradition office will make arrangements to have him returned to [North Carolina] to serve the remainder of his sentence," North Carolina Department of Public Safety Spokesperson Keith Acree said "If he fights extradition, then a more complicated legal process begins to get him returned to [North Carolina]."