Second Piedmont Regional Jail escapee arrested in Farmville

Published 7:16 am Monday, May 8, 2023

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FARMVILLE – The second escapee from Piedmont Regional Jail is now back in custody. Forty-four-year-old Bruce Callahan was captured shortly after 5:30 a.m. Monday, May 8, when he walked onto the campus of Longwood University and pulled a fire alarm. 

“The inmate was injured and in poor health when he walked onto Lancer Park property and pulled an outdoor fire alarm,” Longwood University staff said in a statement. “He surrendered to police and asked for medical assistance.” 

Longwood officials stated there is no indication that he had previously been on the university’s property since escaping on Sunday, April 30. Some Longwood students, still on campus after this month’s exams, made their way outside after the fire alarm went off, but didn’t interact with Callahan.

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By that point, he had collapsed and was being put on a gurney to be taken for treatment. Longwood University police identified Callahan and reached out to Farmville Police, whose officers assisted in the arrest. Callahan was at Piedmont Regional Jail facing multiple federal drug charges.

The other Piedmont Regional Jail escapee

The other escapee, Alder Marin-Sotelo, was arrested on Thursday, May 4, by Mexican authorities in the state of Guerrero. The FBI is still searching for the red Mustang Marin-Sotelo used as an escape vehicle, wanting it as evidence in the case. 

The latest arrest comes just a few days after Alder Marin-Sotelo’s sister, Adriana, had her first day in court. She was arrested and charged with conspiracy to instigate or assist her brother’s escape. We detailed the case against her here. That hearing will take place as scheduled at 3 p.m. in Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Alder, meanwhile, will be transported back to the United States, where he faces a number of charges. In addition to the federal weapons charges he faces, and now the charges of escape, Alder is one of two suspects in the murder of a Wake County sheriff’s deputy. That case has yet to go to trial. 

To be clear, the two men did not escape Piedmont Regional Jail together. While Alder escaped just after 1:40 a.m. Sunday, Callahan left the jail right after 11 p.m. that night.