Platte County Sheriff’s Office investigates if jail policies led to release of wanted man
The Platte County’s Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate what went wrong after an inmate facing serious charges across state lines was mistakenly released from jail a week ago.
Jae’veon Mitchell-Locke, 21, was being held in Platte County jail on five different warrants, the majority of which involved failing to appear in court, before he was allowed to leave the detention center. Since then, both federal and local authorities has been on the hunt for him. So far, they’ve come up short.
Authorities had planned to transfer him to Wyandotte County, Kansas, where he’s been charged in the attempted capital murder of multiple police officers, who he had allegedly engaged in an early April shootout.
Two other defendants — Cornell Lance Jones Jr. and Samarion Ardel England — are also facing charges for the shooting spurred by an undercover police drug bust.
Spokesman for the sheriff’s office Maj. Erik Holland said employees are being interviewed and procedures examined to determine what led to Locke’s release.
“That process isn’t all the way done but it should be wrapping up,” he said in a Friday phone call.
When asked if the office has any concerns about the safeguards preventing an erroneous release from happening again — he said no.
According to Holland, a booking officer runs a check for outstanding warrants on every inmate arriving to the jail. That check is run through MULES, local law enforcement’s recordkeeping system, which funnels information from a national database.
Any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions are noted as “holds” to keep the person in custody. Before the person is released, an officer reviews MULES to ensure there are no pending holds and outstanding warrants. Normally, these holds appear in the system as soon as a warrant is issued.
“That is our safety net,” he said.
Its possible for someone who has been in the facility for an extended period of time to receive a warrant from another area while they are in custody, according to Holland.
The check through MULES is done twice to make sure an officer is not releasing anyone with outstanding charges. Then, a second officer is brought in for the final review.
Holland declined to comment on whether parts of this procedure had not been followed ahead of Locke’s release.
Locke had been in jail for warrants unrelated to the Kansas City, Kansas, police shooting. The cases associated with each warrant involved incidences of stealing, traffic violations, resisting arrest and possession of marijuana. Another warrant, which was the only one where he was not sought for failing to appear in court, involved domestic assault.
“Our efforts to get him back into custody are ongoing,” Holland said.
As of Friday, the U.S Marshals Service announced a reward of $10,000 for information leading to Locke’s arrest.
He’s believed to be armed and dangerous, according to the U.S Marshals Service.
