The inmate reported missing last summer from the south unit of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility has been charged by the state with aggravated escape from custody. .
44-year-old Mark Edward Lucas was apprehended in Topeka after he escaped from the south unit of the Hutchinson prison back on August 3, 2013. He was found missing during an informal count being conducted at the South Unit which houses minimum custody inmates.
Lucas later contacted the Kansas Department of Corrections and law enforcement to make arrangements to surrender to DOC special agents. After surrendering, Lucas was taken to the Shawnee County Detention Facility where he was held until he was returned to the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
In court Thursday morning he was told of the charge and potential sentence which ranges from 31 up to 136-months in prison depending on his criminal history.
Lucas is serving time for numerous burglaries and theft cases out of Shawnee County. Two were aggravated burglaries, one for burglary, and several theft convictions. There were apparently a total of 19-charges that he entered pleas to, including entering a Wal-Mart in Topeka when he had been advised of criminal trespass.
His bond in the new case set at 10-thousand dollars, but he informed Magistrate Judge Randy McEwen that he still has 9-years in prison to serve, so the bond at this point is moot.
His case will now moved to a waiver-status docket in front of Judge Joe McCarville on March 19.