Tensas Parish Sheriff Seeks Answers In Stolen Car Escape

WATERPROOF, La. (AP) — Tensas Parish Sheriff Rickey Jones says he isn't sure how an escaped inmate stole and drove an unmarked police car 1,800 miles across the country, but he says it won't happen again.

Forty-three-year-old Benjamin Gottke was a trustee in the Tensas Sheriff's Office kitchen.

Last week, he acquired keys to an unmarked police car.

He was arrested in Maine on Saturday after he fled authorities while attempting to enter Canada.

He had been serving time for simple burglary and had about nine months left on his sentence.

Now, Gottke faces charges in Maine including resisting arrest, and charges in Louisiana of simple escape and vehicle theft.

Jones told The Natchez Democrat that the escape is going to make him "rethink" the way the trustee program works.