Gaston County inmate back in custody after escaping

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Police were looking for an inmate who they said escaped from Gaston Correctional Center in Dallas.

He was later captured.

Corrections officers were looking for Tony Meeks after they said he escaped from the minimum-security facility.

He now faces escape charges and will be demoted from the minimum custody facility in Dallas to one of the state’s higher security facilities, officials said.

Meeks, 40, is from Gaston County and was serving a 9-year, 11-month sentence for robbery with a dangerous weapon and was scheduled for release in Sept. 2020.

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