A convicted robber is on the run in Shasta County after walking away from a conservation camp, and California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is asking for help in the search.
31-year-old Joseph Stewart, a minimum security inmate, left without permission from the Sugar Pine Conservation Camp, East of Redding, around 7:30 yesterday morning. He was last seen just before the breakfast meal.
CDCR officials say that staff immediately launched a search of the camp buildings and grounds. Cal-Fire and local law enforcement agencies are aiding CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety in the search.
Stewart is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 156 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. It is unknown what he was wearing when he walked away, but it is suspected he was wearing either gray sweatpants and a gray T-shirt or orange pants and an orange long-sleeve shirt.
Stewart has been incarcerated since June of last year from Marin County serving a ten-year sentence for second-degree robbery.
Anyone who sees Stewart or has knowledge of his whereabouts can contact the Sugar Pine Conservation Camp Commander at (530) 472-3027, any law enforcement agency, or 9-1-1.
CDCR says although walk-aways happen, since 1977, 99 percent of all people who have left an adult institution, camp, or community-based program without permission have been apprehended.
