CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — The Clarendon County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) is searching for an escapee from the Clarendon County Detention Center on East Boyce Street in Manning. And News19 has learned this isn't the first time he's escaped from being behind bars.
The man is identified as 42-year-old Shaun Wayne Wiles. According to the U.S. Marshals Service, he got away from the jail around 1 a.m. Thursday where they say he was being held on what they call a "dangerous drug charge." Federal court records show he was indicted in August on a drug conspiracy charge with several other defendants for trafficking meth and heroin.
Wiles is described as approximately 5’10" in height and approximately 160lbs., with grey and black hair. He is wearing dark clothing and has a tattoo on the right side of his neck that reads "Melissa."
A $5,000 reward for information directly leading to his location and arrest.
Clarendon County Sheriff Tim Baxley says a woman found Wiles in the trunk of her car hours after the escape. Wiles then got out and ran into the woods nearby.
K-9 units have been used to track Wiles from the detention center. Deputies say he was spotted shortly after sunrise hiding in the trunk of a car by a woman who was loading a bag of trash into her vehicle.
Wiles ran into the woods and was next seen about a mile away by a farmer who reported one of his trucks missing. The farmer turned over surveillance footage of the incident and it was determined Wiles was the person stealing the vehicle.
The stolen truck is a white 2006 GMC single-cab pickup truck with a toolbox in the back and 25 bags of corn in the bed of the truck. It has a South Carolina license plate number reading 44568FM.
If you see him, please notify 911 immediately and do not approach. People can also call the U.S. Marshals Service, call 1-877-WANTED-2 (926-8332), call 911, submit an anonymous WEB-TIP, or TEXT NHTIP with any information to TIP411.
This isn't the first time Wiles has made it out of detainment. The South Carolina Department of Corrections confirmed to News19 that Wells escaped twice from a state prison in 2003. He was recaptured each time a few days later. They add that after his second capture, he was moved to one of their most secure facilities to spend the rest of his sentence, which ended in 2015.
The Clarendon County Detention Center is not part of the Clarendon County Sheriff's Office. CCSO is assisting in an investigation of how Wiles was able to escape detention.
CCSO, City of Manning Police Department, SLED, the US Marshall's Fugitive Task Force, SC Highway Patrol, SCDNR and Sumter County Sheriff's Office are actively assisting in the search for this individual.
The incident also affected the operation of one school. Dr. Keisa Carr, with Clarendon County School District, said students usually attending the District's Career Center remained at their regular schools Thursday morning because of the Career Center's proximity to the Detention Center. Schools in the district are operating on a normal schedule while administrators are monitoring the situation.