Man arrested 46 years after escaping prison

Authorities say 73-year-old Leroy Albert Morgan was apprehended in Mosheim as part of the Tennessee Department of Correction’s Operation Clean Sweep. He had been using the alias James Albert Morgan and retired to the Greeneville area after spending years in Chattanooga and Florida.

Police told WGRV-AM 1340 that Morgan escaped along with two other men from the old Tennessee State Prison in Nashville in 1961 after serving less than a year on a burglary sentence.

Morgan had served less than a year of a three-year sentence for burglary in Hamilton County.

Authorities say he will serve the remaining time on his sentence at Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex, a maximum security prison in Petros. The Davidson County District Attorney General is deciding if it will pursue escape charges against Morgan.

Morgan’s arrest marked the 12th capture since the Clean Sweep program began last October, said Jerry Lester, director of the Correction Department’s internal affairs division, which administers the program. Another 26 escapees have been confirmed dead since their escapes.