Escapees caught
Fugitives John Charpiot, left, and David Harmon were arrested Thursday morning in a Pinal County cotton field after a tip from a citizen.

Two prison inmates on the lam in Pinal County were arrested Thursday morning in a cotton field.

David T. Harmon and John B. Charpiot escaped Saturday from the Arizona State Prison Complex in Florence. Authorities had since sought their whereabouts and posted a $35,000 reward per escapee for information leading to their capture.

About 9 a.m. Thursday, the Coolidge Police Department received several citizen calls regarding the escapees. Two citizens reported they had a view of men they believed to be the prison inmates. Authorities responded to a farm, where Harmon and Chapiot were chased, captured and arrested by Coolidge police and U.S. marshals. They were on the loose about 110 hours and located just 14 miles from the prison, officials said.

The men are being held at the Pinal County Jail, County Attorney Kent Volkmer said at a news conference attended by officials with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation & Reentry, the Coolidge and Florence police departments, U.S. Marshals Service and Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

His office will handle charges from the various agencies and take the case to a grand jury, Volkmer said.

Officials said a man named Joe Marquez was driving a truck in the area and called police to report he believed he had seen the escapees. Coolidge police responded to the farm with five deputy U.S. marshals from the Tucson office who happened to be in the area on an unrelated fugitive case.

Coolidge police Cmdr. Mark Tercero described the arrest at the news conference and showed video of body cam footage of officers pursuing the men across a soft and sludgy farm field before taking them into custody. One officer’s gun could be seen in his right hand as he chased the escapees.

When the men ignored repeated commands to get down, they were hit with a Taser, then tackled to the ground. A photo of Harmon taken after his arrest showed blood on his face.

Tercero thanked the “citizens who helped in the capture of these fugitives.”

“They were the reason we were able to catch these people today,” he said.

An investigation into the escape is continuing.

Frank Strada, a deputy director of ADCRR, said officials already have been taking a look at what happened the day of escape, but that resources were prioritized to apprehend the men.

Col. Heston Silbert, director of ADPS, said Silent Witness, a non-profit crimefighting organization that offers cash rewards for tips that result in arrest or indictment in felony cases, is looking into how multiple citizen calls came in chronologically and will help decide who will receive the $35,000 reward put up by the governor’s office.