MANNING, S.C. — As the search for a missing Clarendon County inmate continues, the sheriff said on Friday that he's confident the suspect has left the area.
Sheriff Tim Baxley added in the message that the U.S. Marshals, who are in the process of trying to find 42-year-old Shaun Wayne Wiles, are offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to his capture.
The sheriff's department said on Thursday that it was notified around 1 a.m. on Thursday that Wiles had escaped the Clarendon County Detention Center. Since then, several local agencies, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Marshals have been searching for him.
The sheriff's office said at the time that video evidence shows that Wiles stole a local farmer's truck, a white 2006 GMC single cab pickup, and used it to escape.
The next day, the sheriff said his office is now confident that Wiles is no longer in Clarendon County.
The sheriff added that while the Marshals are the primary investigator in the incident now, he and his office would provide updates as they received them. The Clarendon County Detention Center is a separate entity and is not operated by the sheriff's department.
And as authorities continue investigating how he escaped from jail, new information suggests it's not his first time. According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Wiles escaped on two occasions from a state prison in 2003. He was recaptured each time only a few days later. After his second escape, he was moved to one of the most secure facilities the agency had to finish his sentence which ended in 2015.
Federal court records show that Wiles was indicted in August on a drug conspiracy charge along with several other defendants accused of trafficking meth and heroin.