A man mistakenly released from the Johnson County jail has fled from police before, and investigators don’t think he will turn himself in.
Blaine Hansen, 20, Indianapolis, was scheduled to be sent to an Indiana prison to serve a year-and-a-half sentence. But due to an error, he was instead released from the jail on July 26, Sheriff Doug Cox said.
Since then, sheriff’s deputies and a warrant team from Indianapolis have been looking for Hansen, Cox said.
A sheriff’s office investigation is underway to figure out how Hansen was mistakenly released from the jail, but Cox suspects it was likely due to a clerical error, he said.
Based on his personal information and the items he had on him when he was booked into the jail, the search for Hansen has been ongoing in Indianapolis, Cox said. Deputies have been talking with his family and acquaintances and encouraging them to get Hansen to turn himself in, he said.
Cox doesn’t believe Hansen is dangerous, based on his past charges, including theft and driving without a license.
But he doesn’t think he will willingly turn himself in because he also has past charges of resisting law enforcement, he said.
“You never know what someone in that position is capable of,” Cox said.
Hansen was convicted of a felony charge of resisting law enforcement and a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident after an incident in Greenwood earlier this year. In January, Greenwood police tried to stop a vehicle Hansen was driving near Greenwood Park Mall that had a flat tire.
The vehicle did not stop, turning into a parking lot and then an alley behind businesses, and it struck two dumpsters. The vehicle stopped and the driver ran from police. Two juveniles inside the vehicle were released to their parents, according to the Greenwood police report.
Hansen got away, but police were able to identify him, and he was arrested in April.
In June, he pleaded guilty to both counts and was sentenced to six months in jail and then a year-and-a-half on probation. But a week later, jail workers said Hansen and another inmate had popped off a sprinkler head and flooded part of the jail, and he was charged with criminal mischief, according to the report from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. That case was later dismissed.
On July 21, Hansen was brought back to court on a probation violation charge and was sentenced to the time he would have served on probation to be served in an Indiana prison instead, according to court records.
Five days later, he was mistakenly released from the jail.
Cox is concerned about what Hansen is doing while he is out of jail, he said.
“I will feel even worse if he committed a crime while on the outside,” he said.
Cox wants help from the public in finding Hansen before he gets further away, he said.
Once arrested, Hansen would be sent to a state prison to serve his sentence, Cox said.
