Roger Stokes, 36, of Walnut Grove, entered a guilty plea Monday, before Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, to escaping from federal custody, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and U.S. Marshal Mark B. Shepherd of the United States Marshals Service.
Stokes was previously convicted in the Southern District of Mississippi of felonious illegal transport of an alien, and was sentenced to two years in custody and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Court Judge Louis Guirola.
Following a revocation of his original supervised release and the imposition of an additional two years in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Stokes was transferred to the Bannum Place Residential Reentry Center in Jackson to serve the remainder of his time with an anticipated release date of March 18, 2019.
On Jan. 11, 2019, after being confronted by facility personnel with a positive drug test, Stokes left the facility without permission and was caught by law enforcement in Attala County ten days later.
Stokes will be sentenced by Chief Judge Jordan on July 19, 2019 at 9:15 a.m. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The United States Marshals Service investigated the case. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew W. Eichner.
