NEBRASKA — Omaha Police Department detectives have located the Dodge County vehicle taken by an escaped inmate on Wednesday, but the suspect is still at large.
About 7 p.m. Wednesday, authorities received a tip the dark grey 2012 Chevy Impala with government plate No. 42650 had been spotted in a Nebraska Furniture Mart parking lot. OPD said handcuffs were found in the car.
An NFM spokesperson said the store had turned over security footage to authorities.
Authorities are still looking for an inmate, Eric G. Scott, 37, who they may still be armed and dangerous. Scott, a registered sex offender, is described as a 5-foot-10-inch tall Native American weighing around 190 pounds.
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NOTE: If you see Scott, call 911 immediately; do not attempt to make contact, authorities said.
If you have other information about Eric Scott's whereabouts, please call the Dodge County Sheriff's Office at 402-727-2700, or contact the Nebraska State Patrol or local law enforcement.
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Wednesday afternoon, Saunders County Sheriff Kevin Stukenholtz said Scott took control of a Dodge County Sheriff's vehicle Wednesday afternoon near Ithaca, southeast of Wahoo. At the time, authorities thought he might be heading towards an Indian reservation near Mission, S.D.
Stukenholtz said authorities found a rifle and the deputy's cell phone near where he escaped, but at the time believed Scott had a 40-caliber handgun.
Authorities had been transporting Scott to a hearing on charges of first-degree sexual assault of a child, Stukenholtz said.
According to police records found online, five counts were filed against Scott on June 16: two enhanced counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child, one enhanced counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child, one count of incest, one count of child abuse. The alleged abuse happened between September 2013 and April 2016 with a victim who was 11 years old when the abuse started, records state. The victim said Scott twice had intercourse with her and had subjected her to other sex acts numerous times in the family home in Hooper, records state.
Around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Scott forced a Dodge County deputy from the transport vehicle en route from Lincoln Diagnostic and Evaluation Center to Dodge County Jail, according to a Dodge County Sheriff's Department press release. The deputy was taken to Fremont Health Medical Center for treatment as a precautionary measure, the release states.
Scott had been serving a two- to four-year sentence since April 11, 2016, for his fifth DUI offense, and was due to be released Oct. 21, according to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. On this third conviction, in Washington County, he was sentenced to 1.5 to three years, serving a sentence at the Nebraska State Penitentiary from September 2011 to February 2013.
Nebraska State Patrol, U.S. Marshals, Omaha Police as well as Dodge, Saunders, and Douglas county sheriff's departments are involved in the search for Scott.
