Laird faces Pettis County escape charges, OC Sheriff bills prison for resources used in his capture here

Pettis County has filed charges against former Gainesville resident Jason Laird in connection with his escape last month from a work-release detail with the Missouri Department of Corrections. 

Charges of second-degree burglary, tampering with a motor vehicle and stealing $750 or more were filed against Laird in that county on July 15. 

An arrest warrant has been issued for Laird, who is back in the custody of Missouri DoC after being apprehended June 26 near Brixey. Details on his arraignment in Pettis County have not been released yet. 

 

A $7,380 bill from Ozark County

Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin, who attended this week’s Ozark County Commissioners’ meeting to speak about a different matter, mentioned Laird and the hunt to find him. 

“We spent four days. We hunted him like a coyote,” Martin said. 

The sheriff said he’s reached out to state representatives, senators and other officials to ask why Laird was granted a work-release opportunity after he’s had a history of attempted escape, including an April 2020 attempted escape from the Ozark County Jail and a four-month cat-and-mouse chase between law enforcement officers that included vehicle and foot pursuits multiple times. 

Martin said he has also sent a bill to the Missouri Department of Corrections for the cost involved with Laird’s capture. 

“I was kind of aggravated that they put this guy on a work-release, and he put Ozark County back in turmoil again. So I sent the director of DoC a bill for $7,380 for the resources that we used and that we spent on trying to find him,” Martin said.  “I charged them for a bottle of water, everything.”

The sheriff said he was disappointed that the Missouri DoC wasn’t more helpful in the capture of one of their inmates. 

“They never offered to send anybody down here to help us or assist us. We never saw anything from DoC. We were on our own, we – Douglas County and Ozark County – put our heads together, and we spent four long days hunting him,” Martin said. 

Missouri DoC has not responded to Martin’s request. 

 

Details of the escape

Laird is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence in the Missouri DoC in connection with several Ozark County cases. 

While serving his prison sentence, Laird was allowed to participate in a work-release crew cleaning up the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia. He escaped from that detail on June 22. 

A MoDoC representative told a Sedalia news station that Laird left the area “between counts,” presumably meaning times when the supervisor counted and checked that all inmates were still at their posts. Laird reportedly stole a truck from a nearby Missouri Department of Transportation shed and fled the area. After a long and exhaustive search by the Multi-jurisdictional Task Force Team, Laird was arrested here four days later.  

Ozark County Times

504 Third Steet
PO Box 188
Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
Fax: (417) 679-3423