3 of 5 prison escaped convicts caught

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BOWLING GREEN, Mo., Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Three of five inmates who escaped from the Pike County Jail in Missouri were captured early Monday, officials said.

Emanuel Chatman and brothers Jacob and Jason Darnell, all of Louisiana, Mo., were arrested near Midwest City, Okla., while they were begging for money near a convenience store, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Police caught up with them after a report of three men panhandling at a store, authorities said. Police said they found a meth pipe on the suspects.

The three men, along with Joseph Verive of Elsberry and William John Thomas Wilkerson Jr., escaped Saturday from the jail in Bowling Green, Mo.

A family member of one of the escaped convicts called the jail to report the missing inmates. After searching the area, corrections officers said five men were missing.

Surveillance videos showed the inmates removed a stainless steel shower head controller, gaining access to a service area and were able to escape the building.

Jacob Darnell, 22, was being held on charges of domestic assault and possession of a controlled substance, while his brother, Jason A. Darnell, 25, was being held while awaiting a hearing for failing to register as a sex offender.

Chatman, 27, was being held on a charge of domestic assault.

Verive, 49, was in jail on a charge of domestic assault and Wilkerson, 40, was being held on a charge of failure to appear in court on a charge of stealing anhydrous ammonia in 2008.

Police ask that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Verive or Wilkerson to call the Pike County Sheriff's Office.