A convict is on the lam after he failed to report to the Butler County Prison to begin his sentence in a felony drug case.

Eric L. Barlow Jr., 29, of McKeesport, Allegheny County, is wanted on a charge of escape, a felony, in an arrest warrant issued Wednesday.

Barlow was supposed to report to the prison Aug. 22 in accordance with Butler County Judge Tim McCune's sentencing order.

That Aug. 15 order sentenced the defendant to two to six years in state prison for felony drug possession stemming from a controlled drug buy May 25, 2017, when police said he sold cocaine and fentanyl to a confidential informant.

Barlow, who was free on $50,000 bail, had previously pleaded guilty to the charge filed by state police in August 2018.

At sentencing, McCune deferred the defendant's prison commitment. The order did not give a reason for the deferment, court records showed.

Afterward, according to detectives in the latest charge, sheriff's deputies took Barlow to the county prison, where he was processed and released. He was to report back Aug. 22.

But detectives noted in charging documents that as of Sept. 5, he “has never returned to or reported to the (prison).”

Assistant District Attorney Terri Schultz, who prosecuted the case, did not immediately return a telephone call Wednesday.

Online records listed William Difenderfer of Pittsburgh as Barlow's attorney. He did not return a call Wednesday.

Eric L. Barlow