COLUMBIA, S.C.– A South Carolina Department of Corrections inmate who escaped from a work crew in 1979 was captured Wednesday in Dover, Del., living under an assumed name and identity.
SCDC officials said Jose Chico Romero, now 64, had an encounter with Dover police on Dec. 28 in which he presented a fake identification card. He was arrested, processed and released under the name Arnaldo Figueroa, but his fingerprints later came back with a match for Romero. He was taken into custody without incident in Dover on New Year’s Day.
Romero was serving an 18-year sentence for armed robbery from Aiken County, S.C., when he escaped on Dec. 13, 1979. At the time of his escape, Romero was assigned to a work crew in Anderson County, S.C., and was being housed at the former Anderson County Stockade. The building was being used to house short-term local inmates and SCDC inmates assigned to work in the county as part of the designated facilities program, officials said.
Romero was one of several SCDC inmates assigned to live and work there. SCDC officials noted that under current classification rules, he would not have qualified for this work-release program.
Romero is being held at Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown, Del., on a fugitive warrant and has waived extradition. He also is charged with public intoxication, loitering, third-degree degree criminal trespassing, second-degree forgery (four counts), criminal impersonation and being an out-of-state fugitive.
SCDC officials said that once returned to South Carolina, Romero will be required to serve the remainder of his original sentence, which is about seven years, plus any additional time added for an escape conviction.