Brewton police have made three arrests following an investigation that revealed the suspects may have been involved in helping a wanted man elude capture.
Twolla Drakeford, 37; Qualamina McMillan, 50; and Bernard Smith, 35, were arrested this week charged with hindering prosecution.
The arrests came as a result of an investigation that lead to the arrest and capture of Jermaine Spears, a man who had eluded police for three weeks. He was arrested in Montgomery Tuesday by police officers in the city on a tip from Brewton police.
Sgt. Steven Ferguson said the arrests came after Brewton police obtained video from a surveillance camera at a location where Spears was believed to have stopped on his way to Montgomery.
“In the video, officers were able to identify three individuals who aided Spears on his trip to Montgomery,” Ferguson said. “We want people to know that we will not tolerate that kind of activity.”
Morris Brown was also arrested last week and was also charged with hindering prosecution in connection with the case.
“We will continue this investigation to determine if there were other people who aided Spears in anyway,” Ferguson said. “This case is certainly not closed. We are continuing to identify suspects to determine if they had any involvement in helping Spears elude officers. We believe there will be more arrests made in this case.”
Each of the suspects was booked into the Escambia County Detention Center on the charges against them. They are all free on $10,000 bond.
In the original case involving Spears, he was charged with domestic violence strangulation in connection with a suspected assault case against his girlfriend at a local motel.
Warrants for Spears’ arrest were issued following the incident, although officers with Brewton Police Department were not able to immediately locate Spears.
Just last week, Brewton police officials issued a $500 reward for information leading to the capture of Spears.
The three-week search turned up few tips on Spears’ location which prompted law enforcement officials to request assistance from K9 units from Century Correctional Center and Alabama Department of Corrections’ facility near Atmore.
Brewton police officers traveled to Montgomery on Wednesday to take Spears into custody from Montgomery police. He was transported to the Escambia County Detention Center to be booked on the charges against him.