40 years after escape inmate back behind bars: SCDC

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – Officials with the South Carolina Department of Corrections say an inmate who escaped from an Anderson County work crew in 1979 was captured Wednesday in Delaware, living under an assumed name and identity.

Jose Chico Romero, now 64, had an encounter with Dover Police on December 28 in which he presented a fake identification card, officials said in a statement.

He was arrested, processed and released under the name Arnaldo Figueroa, but his fingerprints later came back with a match for Romero. He was apprehended in Dover without incident on New Year’s Day.

According to officials, Romero was serving an 18-year sentence for armed robbery from Aiken County when he escaped on December 13, 1979.

Romero was one of several SCDC inmates assigned to live and work at the former Anderson County Stockade. The building was being used to house short-term local inmates and SCDC inmates assigned to work in the county as part of the designated facilities program. Under current classification rules, he would not have qualified for this work-release program.

Romero is being held at Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown, Delaware on a fugitive warrant and has waived extradition.

Officials say he also is charged with public intoxication, loitering, third-degree criminal trespassing, four counts of second-degree forgery, criminal impersonation and being an out-of-state fugitive.

Once returned to SCDC, Romero will be required to serve the remainder of his original sentence, which is about seven years, plus any additional time added for an escape conviction, officials say.