Feds join search for escaped rape suspect

Associated Press

PAULDING, OHIO

Federal officials joined local authorities Sunday as the search continues for an Ohio rape suspect who overpowered a deputy sheriff in a transport van, stole his gun and ammunition and fled.

Paulding County Sheriff Jason Landers said Sunday that authorities, including the FBI and U.S. Marshals, were working around the clock to find 32-year-old Branden Lee Powell, who escaped around noon Friday on an 80-mile trip from a psychiatric hospital in Toledo to the Paulding County Jail in northwest Ohio.

According to Landers, Powell was in leg shackles and in handcuffs secured to a belly belt when he jumped over the seat and put the deputy in a headlock, causing the van to crash into a ditch. Powell managed to get the deputy’s gun during a struggle and ordered the deputy at gunpoint to remove his restraints.

Powell then handcuffed the deputy to the steering wheel and disabled the van’s police radio and engine before fleeing, Landers said.

Powell was jailed July 8 and indicted on rape, attempted rape and sexual-battery charges.