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Juvenile Justice Center supervisor charged in escape of four teens

Posted at 8:27 PM, Dec 11, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-11 20:27:38-05

A supervisor at the Juvenile Justice Center in Nashville was arrested and charged in connection to the escape of four teens.

Patrick Jones was charged with facilitating, through recklessness in the November 30 escape. His arrest is based on investigation of the escape by the Metro Nashville Police Department's Major Case Task Force.

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Decorrius Wright, 16, Morris Marsh, 17, Brandon Caruthers, 17, and Calvin Howse, 15 escaped through the front door of the center.

The company that manages the center, Youth Opportunity Investments, identifies Jones as the operations manager in the incident report conducted by YOI after the escape.

The report states Jones was with the teens while they were out of their cells cleaning, but left to respond to a fight in another area of the facility.

According to the report, when he left, Jones failed to ensure the elevator door was secured. That's when the four teens were able to get on the elevator and convince a staff member to send the elevator to the basement, which is an unsecured area.

It was recommended that he be suspended for three days following the incident. The report also says Jones was well aware that all youth should have been in their assigned rooms; however, he let them out to clean because the building "needed to be cleaned" based on his observations.

WATCH: Surveillance video shows 'dangerous' teens escaping Juvenile Justice Center

Jones was also the first to notify someone when of the escape. He notified the facility director that the teens were missing at 9:57 p.m. but police weren't notified until 10:22 p.m. - something police officials say helped the teens stay on the run for as long as they did.

Three of the teens have since been recaptured, but Caruthers is still on the run. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials placed him on their Top 10 Most Wanted list.

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Brandon Caruthers

This article was written by Rebekah Pewitt for WTVF .