For Immediate Release

On Sunday September 13th, 2009, James Craig McGee, an inmate at the Rusk County Jail in Henderson, TX, escaped - but he wasn’t on the loose for long. At approximately 5am Sunday Morning McGee ran away from the Rusk County Jail to his girlfriend’s house, Myrtle Lacy of Henderson, not far from the jail. The two then led authorities on a manhunt involving the Rusk and Smith County Sheriffs offices, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Tyler Police Department, and Members of the Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force consisting of Deputy US Marshals, the Smith County DA’s office, and the Texas Rangers. McGee had been recently convicted of burglary and was at Rusk County waiting to serve his ten year prison sentence. Additionally, because of his conviction McGee had also had his parole for robbery revoked.

After searching house to house in Smith County for leads about McGee and Lacy’s whereabouts, the Rangers and Marshals caught up with Lacy at approximately 8pm on Sunday. Lacy Told Authorities that she had dropped McGee off in a neighborhood near Walton RD and Old Henderson Highway in Tyler. Authorities converged on the area and discovered that McGee was traveling with his brother, Gary Don McGee of Tyler, in a new model Red Dodge Ram Pick-up truck. After officers began canvassing the area, Special Deputy Marshal/ DA Investigator Cory Hoover and Deputy Marshal Brian Leach affected a traffic stop on the pick-up and both James McGee and his brother were arrested.

Today three people are in jail in connection with James McGee’s escape, Myrtle Watson Lacy for facilitating the escape, Gary Don McGee for hindering his apprehension, and finally James McGee for the escape itself.

The Joint East Texas Fugitive Apprehension Task Force is a team comprised of law enforcement officers from 56 law enforcement agencies in the East Texas area. The task force objective is to seek out and arrest federal, state, and local fugitives, mainly those with violent criminal histories to include sex offenders.

Additional information about the U.S. Marshals can be found at http://www.usmarshals.gov.

America’s Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency