Inmate arrested after escaping southeast Columbus security facility pleads guilty

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — One of four escaped inmates from a Franklin County minimum security facility who was later arrested changed his plea in court Thursday.

Court records indicate that 30-year-old Jeremy Bowen pleaded guilty on an escape charge, which stemmed from an incident in May in which four inmates escaped from the Franklin County Community Based Correctional Facility on Alum Creek Drive.

Bowen, who escaped with Nikko Burton, Mark Long, and Michael Norton, was the first to be arrested four days after the group reportedly broke a window to flee the facility on May 22.

A Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge sentenced Bowen to serve two years at the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, with 160 days of jailtime credit.

Norton, who pleaded guilty to escape in August, received the same sentence, as did Burton, although Burton’s sentence is to be served consecutively with additional guilty pleas to robbery charges. His total prison sentence is seven years.

Long is still in custody as his case remains pending in court.