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Last updated on Thursday, June 18, 2015
(BEDFORD) - A Lawrence County Superior Court I jury of six people found a Bedford man guilty of escaping house arrest Wednesday afternoon.
According to court records, 38-year-old Jesse Craig was to serve his sentence for a September 2014 domestic battery charge on house arrest. Craig had went to community corrections for an initial assessment and had his ankle bracelet put on and was ordered to go home and stay there until an officer could arrive to set up the equipment for his house arrest. However when Community Correction Officer Emily Riggs showed up at the home at 336 Johnson Lane in Fayetteville he was not there.
Public Defender Interim Chief Bruce Andis told the jury that the woman who owns the property at Johnson Lane decided she didn't want Craig living there.
But even though Craig no longer had a place to stay, he never notified community corrections about the problem. He also never showed up for an appointment with his community corrections case manager Bryce Bolton.
Community Corrections then issued three warrants for escape, failure to appear and petition to revoke probation.
He was missing for six weeks. A Bedford Police officer was then notified that Craig was staying at an apartment at 1132 Hillcrest Road in Bedford. There they found Craig hiding under a mattress and box springs.
The jury returned with the guilty verdict shortly after deliberation. Then the habitual offender charge was addressed. Craig pleaded guilty to that charge.
To file a habitual offender charge a person must be convicted of three felony offenses. Craig was convicted in 196 of felony burglary, in August 2004 of felony theft and burglary and in March 2012 on a felony charge of receiving stolen property.
His sentence hearing is set for 11 a.m. July 10.
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