Nebraska captures one of two sex offenders who escaped prison

(Reuters) – One of two convicted sex offenders who broke out of a Nebraska prison this week was captured on Saturday in a storm drain after an intensive manhunt, while the other remains at large, the Nebraska State Patrol said.

Armon Dixon, 37, jailed on a total sentence of 158 years for multiple offenses including sexual assault, drug possession and robbery, was taken into custody. The inmate still at large, Timothy Clausen, 52, was serving a 51-year sentence for crimes including sexual assault of a child.

Two women who had been assaulted in their home on Saturday identified a suspect to police who matched a description of Dixon, the Nebraska State Patrol said in a statement.

Sniffer dogs were dispatched and tracked Dixon to a storm drain about 10 miles from the prison, where a robot was used to locate him. Dixon then exited the drain and was taken into custody, it said.

“Our work is not over,” Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said in a statement. “Our efforts will continue until we have the second escapee in custody.”

The two inmates, wearing their prison uniforms, escaped from the Lincoln Correctional Center and stole a pickup truck. They evaded police and later abandoned the vehicle after it hit a parked car.

The state’s correction department acknowledged the escape on Friday, but has not provided details on how the two broke out of prison.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Editing by Alan Crosby and Mary Milliken)