Teen nabbed in felony escape case
A teenager was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly did not return to a northern Butler County juvenile detention facility following a home visit.
Lamont “Butt Butt” Franklin Jr., 18, of Brackenridge, Allegheny County, was arraigned on a felony charge of escape, and placed in the Butler County Prison on $20,000 bail.
Authorities had been looking for Franklin since he failed to return to the Western PA Child Care on Route 38 in Allegheny Township from a home visitation pass Sunday.
The teen had been allowed to go to his grandmother's home in Franklin, Venango County, for the weekend, according to county detectives. He was supposed to be at the house at 8:30 p.m. Sunday to be picked up by staff at the detention facility and returned there.
But he was not where he was supposed to be. His grandmother, according to charging documents, believed he had gone to Butler.
Butler County juvenile probation authorities and county detectives were notified Monday.
Detective Tim Fennell said Franklin was caught Wednesday in Harrison Township, Allegheny County. He was later arraigned on the escape charge and jailed.
Western PA Child Care is a secured facility that houses males and females, ages 16 to 21, who have been placed there following court disposition of their juvenile cases.
