Published: June 26, 2007 11:17 pm      

Tony Artrip still at large

Previously escaped from Boyd lockup in April ’97

ASHLAND — Anthony “Tony” Artrip’s escape from the Grant County Detention Center Sunday night wasn’t the Ashland native’s first jailbreak.

In April 1997, he and two other men pulled off the very first escape from the Boyd County Detention Center, which had opened six years earlier and was previously thought to be escape-proof.

Artrip, Alan Scott Williams and Donald Tipton broke through a cell ceiling, pushed out a heating and air conditioning unit and climbed out onto the roof of the jail while the rest of the inmates were watching the movie “Braveheart.”

Then-Boyd Jailer Bob Stevens theorized that the long, noisy film — which prisoners were allowed to watch as a reward for keeping their cells clean — may have covered up any racket the trio made breaking out of the facility.

Artrip — who at the time of the escape was awaiting transfer to a state prison to serve a 10-year sentence for burglary and for being a persistent felony offender — was recaptured in Ironton, Ohio, a month after the breakout. Tipton and Williams, who were awaiting retrial in the robbery of a Westwood supermarket, were later apprehended in Arizona after they pulled another holdup there.

Artrip, whom federal, state and local authorities continued to search for Tuesday, used a method similar to the one the trio utilized in the Boyd escape to free himself from the Grant County lockup, where he had been in custody for about 21/2 months. He climbed onto a basketball backboard in the facility’s recreation area and from there was able to squeeze into an air vent in the ceiling, through which he reached the roof of the jail.

Artrip then jumped down from the roof and ran into a wooded area near the detention center. Jail deputies set up a perimeter around the facility, but Artrip had already eluded that.

Artrip was a federal prisoner. He pleaded guilty June 12 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati to armed robberies at banks in South Point and in Ormond Beach, Fla., in 2005. He faces more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in October by Judge S. Arthur Spiegel.

Ashland Police Capt. Don Petrella said Tuesday that the department had gotten several reports of Artrip being sighted in Ashland, but none of them had been confirmed.

Petrella said the APD is continuing to urge local residents to be on the lookout for Artrip and to contact the department if they see him.

Authorities caution that Artrip should be considered dangerous because of his history of violent crime.

Artrip is a caucasian, 6 feet tall and about 180 pounds. He wore a full beard in his most recent jail photo, but shaved it before his escape.

Ashland residents can relay information on Artrip to the APD by calling (606) 327-2020 or the Silent Witness hotline at (606) 329-1771. Those living outside of Ashland should contact their local law enforcement agency or the Ashland post of the Kentucky State Police at (606) 928-6421 if they know of Artrip’s whereabouts.

KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.