The Whitley County Detention Center is asking for the public’s help in locating an inmate, who walked away from an inmate work crew late Thursday (April 17) morning in the Canadatown area.
Jamie Lee Hoover, 35, is described as a white male, who is 5’9” tall and weighing 165 pounds. He has short brown hair, brown eyes and a small build. He was last seen wearing a green Whitley County Detention Center inmate shirt and blue jeans, according to a detention center release.
Whitley County Jailer Jason Wilson is asking the community to contact the detention center at (606) 549-6013, the Whitley County E-911 Center at (606) 549-6017, the Kentucky State Police at (606) 878-6622, or to call 911 if they know the whereabouts of Hoover.
Hoover was a work release inmate and walked away from a work crew that was on a roadside litter abatement crew, according to the release.
“The inmate was a community level state inmate that was allowed to be on a work detail outside the detention center,” the detention center wrote in a release.
He walked away from the work crew about 10:58 a.m. Thursday while picking up litter in the Canadatown community of Whitley County.
Wilson, deputy jailers, the Williamsburg Police Department, Kentucky State Police from Post 11 in London, Whitley County Police and the Whitley County Sheriff’s Department all immediately responded to the area, according to the release.
“Hoover was not located. It is believed that he may have been picked up by a vehicle,” the release stated.
KSP Trooper Matt Ridener is in charge of the investigation.
According to the detention center’s website, Hoover was booked into the detention center on Oct. 26, 2024, and he is a state inmate.
Whitley County court records indicate that Hoover was arrested on Oct. 26, 2024, by then Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonas Saunders.
He was charged with second-degree fleeing or evading police, reckless driving, no registration plates, no registration receipt, no auto insurance, failure to produce vehicle insurance card, operating on a suspended/revoked operator’s license, and public intoxication controlled substance excludes alcohol.
About 7:25 p.m. on that date, he was allegedly involved in an altercation with his mother’s boyfriend, and then rode a motorcycle past Saunders while he was at the scene, according to his arrest citation.
Saunders observed the motorcycle with no visible registration plate, and attempted to pull the motorcycle over at the intersection of Highway 204 and Elmer Walker Road. Hoover then allegedly traveled through a fire department parking lot at a high rate of speed, and turned right onto Highway 204, Saunders wrote on the arrest citation.
Saunders followed the motorcycle at a safe distance until the motorcycle turned onto its side in the grass. Hoover allegedly fled and was found hiding in a nearby wooded area, according to the arrest citation.
Hoover was indicted by information in this case on Nov. 14, 2024, on a charge of second-degree fleeing or evading police. Hoover pled guilty to the charge on Nov. 4, 2024, in exchange for a one-year sentence that was to be probated for five years after he served 60 days in jail, according to court documents.
Felony cases get to circuit court in one of two ways. The most common way is that evidence is presented to a grand jury, which issues an indictment against an individual.
The second way is indictment by information. An indictment by information is an expedited way to resolve criminal cases more quickly and it involves the defendant and the prosecutor reaching an agreement on the criminal charge(s) against a defendant.
It also usually, but not always, involves a plea agreement with prosecutors in regards to the charges and a recommended sentence in the case.
It is unclear what, if any other cases, that Hoover might have been incarcerated for as of Thursday morning.
