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Tower City,
North Dakota
October
7, 2011 AP
A manhunt for a convicted sex offender who was flushed from a North Dakota
cornfield with the help of farmers in combines cost law enforcement about
$55,000, and local authorities said Friday that the transport company
moving the inmate should pay the bill. California-based Extradition
Transport of America was moving Joseph Megna from
Florida to Washington state. Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney said the
company, which is bonded and insured for such incidents, is cooperating and
should pick up the tab. "Their mishandling of this situation cost the
taxpayers of all these entities a lot of money," Laney said. Laney
said the company could face sanctions under a federal law, sponsored by
former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, that was
prompted by the escape of a man who murdered a Fargo girl in 1993. Kyle
Bell, convicted of killing 11-year-old Jeanna
North, fled in 1999 from a private prison transport bus. Extradition
Transport of America declined comment. Megna, 29,
escaped during a rest stop Tuesday night near Tower City. Authorities said
he was in plain clothes and wasn't handcuffed. He surrendered Wednesday
afternoon after farmers in a half-dozen combines - each with SWAT team
members as escorts - harvested about 100 acres of corn. "This is
unique in the sense that, God bless North Dakota, we bring everybody
together to solve the problem and we put guys up on combines," Laney
said. Megna was surprised by the attention he
received. "Am I famous for running into a cornfield?" he asked a
group of reporters through an open window in the back seat of a police
sport utility vehicle. Costs include officer overtime, fuel and mileage for
ground vehicles, a helicopter and an airplane. The farmers who volunteered
their time and equipment will be compensated for fuel, mileage and wear and
tear on the combines, Laney said.
October 5, 2011 INFORUM
A high-risk sex offender who escaped a prisoner transport van and
sought refuge in a cornfield near here was nabbed by law enforcement about
2:30 p.m. today. Joseph Megna, 29, said he's a
vegetarian and the "transport lady" was serving him nothing but
bread and cheese. "I was starving and that's why I escaped and fled
out into the cornfield," he said after being captured. "I wasn’t
trying to hurt anybody.” Authorities tapped the help of local farmers in an
attempt to end the large-scale manhunt that began more than 20 hours ago
after Mgna, a convicted high-risk sex offender
from Washington state, fled a transport van near here Tuesday.
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