Inmate found with handmade rope, cardboard ‘gun’ sentenced for attempted NC prison escape

A federal inmate was sentenced Thursday to 30 months for attempting to escape from the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner.

The sentencing, about two years after the offense, was announced by Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Charles Asher, 62, an inmate at the Granville County prison north of Raleigh at the time. was found by authorities the night of Sept. 14, 2020, hiding in the bushes at the prison compound near the facility’s exit.

He was discovered possessing telltale “multiple unauthorized items” that could be used to escape, including a homemade rope of about 14 feet, gloves, a mattress cover and a replica cardboard handgun wrapped with black electrical tape.

Asher pleaded guilty to attempted escape on June 9, the Eastern District of North Carolina said in a news release.

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It’s not the first time that Asher used a fake gun — he pleaded guilty to a crime involving one in 2012, according to West Virginia court records. Asher previously pleaded guilty to robbing two West Virginia banks of nearly $30,000.

He was dressed as a security guard and used a replica pistol to threaten to shoot the tellers.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons investigated the case and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Mallory Brooks Storus prosecuted the case, according to a news release.