Abbeville Police helps search for escaped prisoner

By Chris Rosa

As of press time, Peter M. Hughes, from Abbeville, is still on the run after escaping from Avoylles Parish’s Sheriff’s Office on Monday.

The Abbeville Police Department has been put on alert to keep an eye out for Hughes.

Abbeville Detective Jason Hebert contacted Hughes’ family on Tuesday to see if they have heard from him.

“We are very concerned,” said Hebert.

Hebert said the family said they have had no contact with Hughes.

Hughes, who was scheduled to get out of prison this year, has a long list of charges against him since 2004.

The charges range from hit and run, aggravated assault, a couple of simple battery charges, carrying an illegal firearm charge and a group of drug charges.

How Hughes

escaped

At approximately 1:40 a.m. on Monday morning three inmates escaped from the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The inmates escaped after putting a Correctional Officer at knifepoint and forcing him to open the door.

The officer was opening the door to a disciplinary holding cell to provide water to inmates within the holding cell when inmate Quentin M. Truehill brandished a handmade knife, held it to the throat of the officer, and threatened to kill the officer if he did not open a nearby access door.

As the officer began to comply with Truehill’s demands, another officer attempted to intervene and was cut on the hand.

Quentin M. Truehill, Kentrell F. Johnson, and Abbeville Peter M. Hughes all fled the jail facility. Deputies, City Police Officers, and a K-9 Chase Team from the Avoyelles Correctional Center tracked the escapee’s into a wooded area near Highway 1. Sheriff Anderson said it is now apparent that the three were picked up by an accomplice near the old Wal-Mart building in Marksville.

The US Marshals in conjunction with its State and Local partners are aggressively pursuing the three escapees.

If you have information as to the location of any of these offenders please call the Avoyelles Parish Sheriff’s Office at (318) 452-2076 or the US Marshals in Lafayette, LA at (337) 262-6792. Your identity can remain anonymous.