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Jail escapee apprehended

Shawn Freier

WALNUT — Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested one of the men who escaped from the Sac County Jail Tuesday evening without incident.

Lake View man Shawn Freier, 25, the only inmate still on the lam, was apprehended in a Walnut residence around 6:30 p.m. He escaped from the jail in Sac City on Friday with Rockwell City man Joseph Sly, 35.

Sly was located and arrested early Saturday morning by an off-duty Lake City police reserve officer. He is currently being held in the Buena Vista County Jail. Freier was transported back to the Sac County Jail from Council Bluffs on Wednesday.

The escape happened when Sly was being moved from the main cell area back to a holding cell after taking a shower, the Sac County Sheriff’s Office said. When a female correctional officer opened the main cell door, Freier grabbed her. Sly and Freier forced the correctional officer into the main cell block, locking her inside, before running down the stairwell.

The two men were confronted by a custodian in the stairwell, who opened the locked door at the bottom of the staircase. Sly shoved the custodian out of the way and ran down the hall, exiting the building. Freier went through the kitchen and jumped out a first-floor window. Both men ran south from the jail.

Freier is serving time in the jail for domestic violence abuse. Sly faces charges in Calhoun County for domestic violence and sexual abuse.

Both men now face additional charges: escape from custody, assault while participating in a felony and assault on persons in a certain occupation.

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