Escape Charges Dropped For Inmate Who Switched Identities: Court

COOK COUNTY, IL — A man who police said swapped identities with a fellow detainee so he could escape Cook County Jail will not be prosecuted in connection with the escape that sparked a weeklong manhunt.

Jahquez Scott, 22, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a drug case and a gun charge Thursday. The escape case was dropped.

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Scott was missing from the county jail for about a week while Cook County Sheriff's officials and the FBI searched for him. He was eventually found in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago.

After he was arrested, prosecutors said Scott told them a man named Quintin Henderson was responsible for the entire scheme. Henderson made a similar agreement last year, pleading guilty to a drug charge in exchange for prosecutors dismissing his aiding an escape charges.

Scott was originally accused of persuading Henderson to let him use his name so that Scott could get out before his trial date while Henderson had been released on his own recognizance pending trial.

Henderson told authorities Scott offered him $1,000 in exchange for using his identity to escape. But once Scott walked out of jail after using Henderson's ID and completing his exit interview, Scott only said $500 was the agreed amount and that Henderson was the one who asked Scott for the deal.

Their exchange was caught on surveillance camera outside of Cook County Jail. Due to masks, the sheriff's office said they could not tell the difference between the two men at first.

Scott signed release documents for Henderson and collected his personal property, prosecutors said.