Inmate who escaped McCook facility back in custody

MCCOOK, Neb. (KSNB) - An inmate who escaped from the Work Ethic Camp in McCook is back in custody after more than a month on the run.

Ronald Grant was arrested Monday by Lancaster County Sheriff deputies working with the Metro Area Fugitive Task Force. He is currently at the Reception and Treatment Center in Lincoln.

LSO said on Monday at 10:46 a.m. the task force received information that Grant was at a residence near S 8th and Garfield Streets.

According to Chief Deputy Ben Houchin, the task force surrounded the residence, however Grant barricaded himself in the basement.

Chief Houchin said it took members of the task force 30 minutes of negotiations to get Grant to come up the stairs and into custody without incident.

“We had obtained information that he possibly had weapons and that he had been claiming that he was not going to go back. So, this was a good catch,” added Chief Houchin.

LSO said that no weapons were found.

Grant disappeared Feb. 12 around 8 p.m. when he took off running from the WEC parking lot as he was emptying trash with a staff member and two other incarcerated individuals.

Grant started his sentence on Nov. 15, 2005. He was sentenced to 29 to 44 years for charges out of Lancaster County that include manslaughter, assault by a confined person and felon in possession of a deadly weapon. He has a parole hearing scheduled for July 2023 and a tentative release date of November 18, 2029.

WEC is a minimum B security facility with a focus on programming and treatment in order to prepare individuals for release. Individuals housed at this facility may be permitted to complete job and program assignments in the community with intermittent supervision. Minimum B custody is a lower custody level and is served in a less restrictive facility.

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