RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) – A man who spent two days on the run after escaping from an Eastern Carolina jail is headed to federal prison.
Russell Heath was sentenced in federal court to nine years in prison.
The 48-year-old Albemarle man pled guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Heath used a shank to escape from the Chowan County jail on October 19, 2022.
The feds say he managed to put a detention officer in a headlock and held the shank to his neck while threatening to kill him.
The man then locked two officers in a cell before changing clothes and escaping from the jail, according to a news release.
Heath was caught two days later in Moyock and deputies found a loaded .40 caliber handgun near where the man fell after being tasered.
The man has already pled guilty to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and felony escape in state court.
