Dad helped son who escaped jail, SC cops say. Now they’re both in jail instead

One of the three inmates who escaped from a South Carolina detention center got help from his father as he tried to get away from law enforcement.

That paternal support backfired.

After Christopher Boltin was captured on the run Sunday, his father, Hoyte Boltin, also was taken into custody.

Although Hoyte Boltin has not been charged, Richard Walker of the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office said the elder Boltin “is expected to be charged for providing some type of assistance to his son after the escape.”

Christopher Boltin, 27, was one of the three inmates who escaped from the Orangeburg-Calhoun Regional Detention Centeron Saturday night. Along with Christopher Boltin, Tyshon Demontrea Johnson, 27, and Curtis Ray Green, 20, also ran away from the jail.

Unlike Christopher Boltin, Johnson and Green have not been caught.

Johnson and Green were being held on charges of murder in two separate incidents and are considered dangerous, according to Orangeburg County Sheriff Leroy Ravenell.

An electrical short at the detention center might have allowed the three inmates to break out.

“They took advantage of a situation,” Orangeburg County Administrator Harold Young said, according to wltx.com. “We had an electrical short in the panel. It did what it was designed to do. When that electrical short happened, it released the locks within that pod, like they’re supposed to do.”

When that happened, Christopher Boltin, Johnson, Green and a fourth inmate who was captured before making it past a security fence assaulted a guard who attempted to stop them, wach.com reported.

“It was a four-on-one scrap” between the inmates and one of the corrections officers, said Young, according to wistv.com. The inmates overpowered the officer, “maced him with his (own) mace,” unlocked other areas, grabbed “sheets and stuff,” then took off, the TV station reported.

Christopher Boltin was captured in Lexington County. He was in the detention center on charges of carjacking and possession of a stolen vehicle, according to the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office.

Walker said Monday there were no updates on Johnson or Green. He did say that the U.S. Marshals, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, and other local agencies are assisting the sheriff’‘s office.

Johnson is one of three people charged with fatally shooting a 24-year-old man and injuring two others during a September 2017 armed robbery, The Times and Democrat reported last year.

Green was charged with murder in the March 2015 killing of a man who was leaving for work in the early morning when he was shot, the newspaper reported. The victim’s truck also was stolen.

The sheriff asked that if anyone has information on the whereabouts of Johnson and/or Green, to contact the Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Office immediately at 803-534-3550 or Crimestoppers at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

This story was originally published May 21, 2018 at 7:24 PM with the headline "Dad helped son who escaped jail, SC cops say. Now they’re both in jail instead."