ASHLAND – The Ashland Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol credited a team effort between local law enforcement and the community in the capture of an escaped inmate early Sunday morning.
Said Ali El-Khatib, 32, was found by troopers from the Ashland Post just before 6 a.m. on Sunday near U.S. 250 and I-71 after receiving a tip about a suspicious person. El-Khatib is currently being held at the Ashland County Jail under a warrant for misdemeanor theft from 2014 while further charges are explored.
“This suspect was arrested because of that 911 call,” said Peter Elliott with the U.S. Marshals Services for northern Ohio. “Ashland and Wayne counties cares about their communities, and they’ve done it once again by making the call that led to this arrest.”
Sunday’s capture brought closure to a chain of events that began on Friday, April 12. Lt. Stephanie Norman with the Ashland Post explained that El-Khatib escaped at a rest area on I-71 Friday around 9 p.m. near mile marker 197 in Wayne County.
According to Norman, law enforcement searched the area of El-Khatib’s escape until 1 a.m. and picked the search up again on Saturday morning. Aviation services including a helicopter flyover and a canine unit from the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the search, along with the U.S. Marshals and the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office.
On Sunday morning at approximately 5 a.m. the Ashland Post received a call from the “GOASIS” gas station on U.S. 250 indicating there was a suspicious male that matched the description of the missing inmate. When officers responded the suspect fled on foot, and a perimeter was initiated.
“One of our officers stopped into the Motel 6,” Norman said. “Once they arrived they stopped a gentleman in the parking lot and asked if they’d seen anyone matching the description. They indicated the suspect was sitting in the lobby of the Motel 6.”
After another brief foot pursuit, law enforcement located El-Khatib in a wooded area along I-71 and an arrest was made.
Norman noted the circumstances that led to El-Khatib’s escape are still under investigation. El-Khatib was being moved from New York to Indiana by a private extradition company when he asked to use the bathroom at a rest stop. He was wearing a waist chain and shackled on one ankle when he escaped into the woods.
“There’s still a lot of this that we do not know,” Elliott added. “We know he made it about 13 miles from his escape. We are interviewing him at length and will get a lot more details.”
