Published: October 28, 2009 09:58 pm      

Inmate search focuses on Wyoming, Boone counties

The focus of the search for two escaped Mount Olive Correctional Facility inmates is on their home counties rather than the Fayette County area, Jim Rubenstein, commissioner for the Division of Corrections, said Wednesday.

William Okey Cline, 25, of Wyoming County, and Kenneth Ray Hager, 30, of Boone County, were discovered missing from the minimum security camp between 10:30 p.m. Sunday and midnight Monday, during an evening head count.

“We feel they’re not around the Mount Olive, Fayette County area right now,” Rubenstein said, adding that belief is based on experience rather than evidence.

Rubenstein said the Division of Corrections, working closely with the U.S. Marshals Service and West Virginia State Police, are concentrating their efforts on the escapees’ home counties, “trying to develop some leads.”

“It’s been really a slow couple of days as far as intelligence gathering has gone,” Rubenstein said. “They’ve laid pretty low.”

Hager is described as a 170 pound, 6-foot-1 inch tall white man with brown hair and brown eyes. Officials say he may be identified by numerous skull tattoos on his forearms and/or tattoos of a brick wall on his legs and left hand fingers. He also has a mermaid tattoo on his back.

Cline is a 195 pound, 6-foot-1-inch tall white male with brown hair and eyes. Officials say he has a Tasmanian devil tattoo on his left forearm and a “Wyoming County Outlaw” tattoo on his front torso.

Cline was serving a sentence for daytime burglary and Hager was sentenced for burglary, grand larceny and breaking and entering.

Although the men don’t have violent histories and are described as “low risk,” Rubenstein says the public should exercise caution and report anything suspicious to Mount Olive or the West Virginia State Police.

— E-mail: mjames@register-herald.com