Press Releases

Two offenders who escaped Thursday night from the Catawba Correctional Center in Newton were captured around 12:30 p.m. today without incident at the Baymont by Wyndham hotel in nearby Hickory.

The State of North Carolina and FEMA have approved $2.9 million to reimburse the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for mosquito abatement costs following Hurricane Florence.

State correctional and local law enforcement officers from Newton and the Catawba Sheriff’s Office are seeking Catawba Correctional Center, minimum custody offender Nhia Vue (#1093002), who was reported missing from the facility June 25. Vue was last seen in the yard at approximately 9 p.m.

State correctional and local law enforcement officers from Newton and the Catawba Sheriff’s Office are seeking Catawba Correctional Center, minimum custody offender Juan McDonald (#1132541), who was reported missing from the facility June 25.

The State Highway Patrol is requesting assistance from the public in locating a hit-and-run vehicle responsible for the death of a pedestrian in Cumberland County. On Thursday, May 21, troopers were called to NC 87 near Sand Hill Rd where they located Timothy Wayne Slade, 51, of Hope Mills.

On Wed., June 24 at approximately 8:57 a.m., the State Highway Patrol responded to I-40 in Wake County due to several vehicles traveling at a slow rate of speed near the 298 mile marker.

As floodwaters rose this week along the Tar River to levels not seen since Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, water rescue teams from the Rocky Mount Fire Department put some new state-provided equipment into action, rescuing people stranded in their homes and vehicles.

Over the weekend, four individuals were shot, two were killed at an illegal bar in Edgecombe County. 

A North Carolina public utility affected by Hurricane Dorian has been approved for disaster assistance funding from the State of North Carolina and FEMA.

State prison officials have initiated a plan to test all 31,000 offenders for COVID-19.