Man charged with attempt to escape after slipping out of handcuffs in jail transport van

Jerimiah Love, 33, of Caulfield, has been held in the Ozark County Jail on a $10,000 cash-only bond since his arrest Feb. 21 in connection with a case which he’s charged with attempting to escape from confinement, a class E felony.

A bond reduction hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Results of the hearing were not available at presstime. 

According to the probable cause statement, prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Seth. A. Miller, at 9:52 a.m., the Ozark County Jail Administrator Hunter Ryan called Miller’s personal cell phone due to radio difficulty to inform the officer that a prisoner he was transporting, Jerimiah Love, had slipped out of his restraints and was attempting to escape confinement from the secure transport van. 

Ryan told Miller that he was stopped at the junction of Highway 5 and Highway 95, enroute to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, and he had restrained Love again. 

Miller arrived on scene shortly afterward, the report says, where he found Love telling the OCSD officers that he did not want to be transported to Douglas County. 

Ryan said Love had taken off a secure belt and slipped a handcuff off for a second time while the van was sitting stationary.

Love had also forcibly bent a metal door bracket in the transport van to attempt escape. 

Ryan and Miller checked Love’s restraints again and placed him in the secure area of the van. 

Jail officer Ingram said he’d heard Love in the back of the van moving around, which led him to glance back and see him slip the belt off and bend the bracket.