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Inmates who used forged documents to leave prison are back in Orlando-area jail

Posted at 8:15 PM, Oct 22, 2013
and last updated 2013-10-22 22:15:15-04
By John Couwels and Joe Sutton

CNN

(CNN) — Two convicted murderers who allegedly used forged documents to walk out of prison were booked Tuesday in Orange County, Florida — the place where both men hail from and where the murders they are responsible for took place.

After days on the lam, Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins were recaptured on Saturday night at Panama City’s Coconut Grove Motor Inn, some 360 miles northwest of the Orlando area.

By 2:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, they were back in the Orange County jail, according to county corrections spokesman Allen Moore.

“The two will be held in maximum custody in two separate locations of the jail system,” Allen said.

Walker, who faces a new escape charge, is set to appear at 9 a.m. Wednesday in an Orlando courtroom. Jenkins does not face the same charge, and is not set to appear in court.

Walker and Jenkins, both 34, had been serving life terms without parole for unrelated killings at the Franklin Correctional Institution in North Carrabelle, south of Tallahassee in Florida’s Panhandle.

Jenkins walked out September 27, while Walker left October 8. Both used legal-looking documents with bogus reproductions of several key players’ signatures, including those of the Orlando-area state attorney and Judge Belvin Perry, plus the seal of the Orange County clerk of court’s office.

State officials have been investigating that type of scam for about a year and had warned prosecutors about the schemes over the summer, said Jerry Bailey, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s commissioner.

On Tuesday, Bailey’s agency announced that a reward of up to $10,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the forgeries or inmates’ escapes. The Florida attorney general’s office is offering another reward of up to $10,000.

CNN’s Greg Botelho contributed to this report.

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