Cops: Escaped Georgia Fugitive Arrested in Riverhead

A convict who allegedly escaped from a Georgia corrections facility in September and was living as a fugitive was apprehended in Riverhead on Wednesday.

According to Riverhead Town police, officers in conjunction with United States Marshals New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force located Jerry D. Ross, 38, at the Greenview Motel in Riverhead on Wednesday.

Ross was arrested without incident and charged with being a fugitive from justice. He was processed at the Riverhead Police Department and arraigned at Riverhead Justice Court. 

Acoording to an article in the Times-Enterprise in Thomasville, Georgia on Oct. 3, Ross escaped on the afternoon of Sept. 25 while doing prison work detail at the Country Oaks Golf Course.

According to the article, Ross, from Irwin County, was serving time for a burglary conviction -- and the escape was not his first. Ross, the Times-Enterprise said, had escaped from the Ben Hill Detention Center while serving a sentence for burglary conviction and was later found in South Carolina. He allegedly has a history of resisting arrest.

The article stated that Ross was believed to have stolen a truck and, next, another vehicle; he was said to be divorced and estranged from the mother of his three small children. The Times-Enterprise said Ross faces one to 10 years in prison escaping and 15 years behind bars for each stolen vehicle.

Ross was remanded to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility without bail pending extradiction to Georgia.

According to a report by WCTV, authorities were able to track Ross after his mother gave them his cell phone number; the report stated that Ross was working for a tree service based out of Ocala, Florida.