Inmate caught after blaming prison escape on COVID-19

NORTH CAROLINA (AP) — Authorities say a convicted drug trafficker who said he escaped from a federal prison in North Carolina because he feared the coronavirus has surrendered after 18 days on the run.

The Raleigh-based federal prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that Richard R. Cephas turned himself in at a federal courthouse in Delaware.

He escaped in early April from a prison complex in Butner where dozens of prisoners have COVID-19.

Prosecutors say he’ll be transferred back to North Carolina to face a prison escape charge.

Prosecutors say Cephas was about two years from release when he escaped.