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Agents of the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) are assisting local law enforcement and officers of the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice (SCDJJ) as they search for two missing juvenile inmates.
Of interest? The two inmates escaped from a Midlands-area behavioral health facility on Wednesday, August 28, 2024 – more than two weeks ago.
Why are we just now learning about this now? That’s one of many questions tied to this case our media outlet is endeavoring to answer…
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According to SLED’s release, the two inmates escaped from the Three Rivers behavioral health facility in Lexington County – a non-secure facility. One of the inmates – 18-year-old Malachi Joseph Ussery of Columbia, S.C. – has what SLED referred to in its release as “a violent criminal history.”
Ussery is 6-foot-0, 140 pounds and has blue eyes and brown hair.
The other escaped inmate, Robert Richard Louis Bissonnette IV, is 17 years old and was at SCDJJ on a probation violation. Bissonnette, of Anderson, S.C., is 5-foot-6, 137 pounds and has hazel eyes and brown hair.
“Bissonnette was last seen on September 6, 2024 in West Columbia, S.C. on Sunset Boulevard,” according to SLED’s release. “He may have shorter hair than pictured, or a shaved head.”
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“Law enforcement should use extreme caution if they encounter either Ussery or Bissonnette,” SLED’s release noted.
Citizens who see Ussery or Bissonnette are urged to immediately call 911 and then report the information to SLED at 866-472-8744.
“Please do not engage with either of them,” the release warned.
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UPDATE |
According to SLED public information Renée Wunderlich, as of 10:55 p.m. EDT on Thursday (September 12, 2024), both suspects are now in custody.
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THE RELEASE…
(SLED)
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the owner and founding editor of FITSNews. Prior to founding his own news outlet, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina, bass guitarist in an alternative rock band and bouncer at a Columbia, S.C. dive bar. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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