SPRINGFIELD TWP, Mercer County — A teenager who a month earlier escaped from a local juvenile detention center was captured Tuesday, authorities said.

But it wasn't easy.

Trent T. Garrison, 19, of Grove City is being held in the Mercer County Jail following his arrest near the Premium Outlets in Springfield Township.

His arrest followed an extensive search by troopers from Mercer and Butler, sheriff's deputies and a local police tracking dog, according to state police.

Garrison became the target of the manhunt at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, when an employee at the Hampton Inn & Suites on Route 208 in Springfield Township found him sleeping in a closet.

“(The teen) had broken into one of the storage closets inside the hotel,” a police report said, “and had apparently been using the closet as a place to sleep.”

The hotel is about four miles southwest of George Junior Republic a residential school for juvenile boys from which authorities believe Garrison escaped on Sept. 16. On Oct. 2 state police obtained an arrest warrant for Garrison.

Once the hotel employee confronted Garrison, police said, the uninvited guest yelled, “I can't be caught.” The teen ran out the door and headed toward nearby Grove City Airport.

Troopers from the Mercer and Butler stations and deputies from the Mercer County Sheriff's Office joined in the search. The Shenango Township Police Department also assisted with its tracking dog.

At one point state police prepared to deploy a helicopter, but Garrison's capture made that unnecessary.

Police credited the public's help in eventually spotting the teen in a field south of the outlet mall. Garrison initially gave a bogus name before admitting his identity.

Authorities also later learned that Garrison was wanted for a probation violation in Monroe County, in eastern Pennsylvania.

Garrison is charged with felony counts of trespass and flight to avoid apprehension, and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and providing false identification stemming from Tuesday's search.

Additionally, he is charged with felony escape in connection with the break out from George Junior Republic.

Garrison is being held in the Mercer County Jail.