Posted at 3:55 p.m., Monday, July 2, 2001

Inmate escapes from work furlough program

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Police and prison officials are searching for a minimum security inmate who bolted from the Laumaka work furlough center today after testing positive for drug use.

Melvin Noble Jr, 30, was last seen running down Laumaka Street in street clothes and leg shackles, said O'ahu Community Correctional Center Warden Clayton Frank.

Noble was convicted in 1999 of first degree theft and was tentatively scheduled for parole in August, Frank said. Noble is from the Ewa Beach area and has prior convictions for misdemeanor harassment, second degree theft, and third degree assault.

Inmates at Laumaka are not considered dangerous and are allowed to hold jobs and return to the facility at night unsupervised. Noble had been alone in an unlocked room after a urine test when he disappeared from the facility, Frank said.

"There was a short period of he was unaccounted for, and we're trying to ascertain how long," he said.

Noble is five feet six inches tall, weighs 130 pounds, and has brown eyes and brownish black hair.