Two teenage boys committed to the state Youth Services Division who ran off from a Northeast Arkansas residential treatment center Tuesday morning were captured by authorities Tuesday night.
Dekota Acklin, 16, and Mackenzie Suitor, 17, escaped from the Harrisburg Juvenile Treatment Center shortly after 8 a.m., according to a public notice released by the Youth Services Division.
Harrisburg Police Chief Gary Hefner said Acklin and Suitor were found about 15 or 16 miles from Harrisburg about 9 p.m. by deputies from the Poinsett County sheriff's office. Hefner said someone spotted the youths and called authorities.
On Tuesday night Acklin and Suitor were being transported to the Craighead County jail.
In an interview, Amy Webb, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said the boys ran from their dorms as they were walking to school.
"They were walking out the front door of their dorm with other students. There were staff behind them. They were leaving for class, and as they walked out, they just took off running," Webb said. "Staff chased them immediately but just weren't able to catch them."
The Harrisburg facility is operated by Consolidated Youth Services. It is about 30 miles south of Jonesboro on the north side of Harrisburg, near the Poinsett County sheriff's office. The center is not fenced. It has the capacity to house 36 youths.
The Poinsett County sheriff's office and Harrisburg police were notified and arrived at the center at 8:20 a.m., the release said. The area was searched, but Acklin and Suitor were not found.
Webb said Acklin, who is from Concord, had been at the Harrisburg center for about a year, committed to state custody on a felony "crime against a person." Suitor, who is from Dumas, had been in the custody of the Youth Services Division for a few months, committed on a nonviolent felony, she said.
Webb said she couldn't release the specific offenses that the youths committed because state law does not allow that information to be disclosed.
Webb said the Youth Services Division has begun an internal investigation into the escape.
"It doesn't look like there's any action that the staff could have taken to prevent it. But that's why we want to do an investigation and make sure we do a thorough review," she said.
Metro on 11/25/2015