Freedom was short-lived for a teen-ager who escaped from the Union County Detention Center early Tuesday morning.

Solomon Maurice Gore, 18, of 309 South Church St., was discovered missing from the facility around 1 a.m. Gore was taken into custody around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday at a house on Spring Street, Lt. Robbie Hines said

Hines had received a tip about Gore’s whereabouts and officers converged on the house.

“We surrounded the house, asked the tenant for permission to go in and found Mr. Gore in a back room,” Hines said.

An investigation is ongoing to determine if Gore was harbored by someone who knew he was an escapee.

“Possibly charges could derive from that,” Hines said.

Gore changed clothes at least twice before he was apprehended. When he left the detention center he was wearing orange pants and a white shirt. Later, officers spotted him wearing dark shorts and a red shirt but he fled and they were unable to catch him. When he was arrested he was wearing sweat pants and a red shirt.

Gore also will be charged with assault and battery for spitting on a TV cameraman who was filming when Gore was brought to the Union County Jail.

“As we removed him from the car he made it known he didn’t want the camera in his face,” Hines said. “He followed that up with profanity toward the cameraman and the news reporter. As we were making the turn, he lunged and got the cameraman in the face and the camera.”

Detention center director Niel McKeown said officers think Gore used a TV antenna to climb up an outside wall and onto the rooftop. Gore got past the razor wire and climbed down a fence.

Gore began serving a 60-day sentence at the facility on July 13 for giving false information to police and possession of marijuana. McKeown said Gore’s desire to escape might have stemmed from problems he was having with a female friend.

Around 1:47 a.m. Tuesday the Union County Sheriff’s Office was contacted after a woman reported to the Union Public Safety Department that she was traveling into Union on the Furman Fendley Highway and saw a black man wearing a white T-shirt and orange pants. She said he ran out of the woods into her lane of traffic near LSP. The woman said she almost struck the man.

The sheriff’s office notified the detention center, where a head count was done. Officer Nathan Burdine confirmed to Sgt. Dee Haney that Gore was missing.

Officers received information that Gore might be headed to a house in the Union Mill Village where his girlfriend was staying. Officers went to the area, spotted Gore and he fled on foot.

Bloodhounds from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, a K-9 unit from the Jonesville Police Department, officers with the public safety department and officers from the detention center assisted in the search for Gore but were unable to find him at that time.

Hines thanked the other agencies for their cooperation.

“We really appreciate law enforcement working in unity,” he said.

Gore was arrested by the public safety department on July 9. A report said city officers and sheriff’s deputies were attempting to serve a warrant on 107 Lybrand St. and saw people there connected with Gore. They knew there was a warrant for Gore’s arrest and they asked the people living in the house for permission to search for Gore. They did not object.

Cpl. Tommy Hart with public safety and Sgt. Jeff Wright with the sheriff’s office went into the house. Hart found Gore sitting on a bedroom floor. Hart asked Gore his name and Gore said, “Derrick.”

Gore was handcuffed. Officers searched him and found a clear plastic bag containing what is believed to be marijuana. They also seized his cell phone and $55.

Gore’s arrest warrant from Spartanburg said he failed to report to his probation officer in April and the probation officer found out he had moved to Union County from Dogwood Club Road in Spartanburg. The warrant said Gore failed to inform the officer that he had moved and failed to tell the officer he had been arrested since his last report.

In January, Gore pleaded guilty to assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Union County Criminal Court. He was given a two-year sentence suspended to two years of probation. He was told to serve 80 hours of public service. He originally had been charged with robbing a teen of his cell phone, but was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge.

On April 13, Gore was charged in Union County with possession of a handgun by a person convicted of violent crime and violation of the South Carolina Gun Law.

Arrested in 2008 case

James Walter Cunningham II, 26, of 708 Lukesville Road, Buffalo, was charged Monday by the public safety department with grand larceny. A warrant signed by Investigator Mickey Parker said on Oct. 6 Cunningham took two generators from the Wal-Mart construction site on 513 North Duncan By-Pass. The generators were owned by ATA Roofing and Grier’s Roofing and were worth $4,000 each.

A man living on Rice’s Chapel Road found the generators behind his house and called police. He told officers that Cunningham and another man had asked him if they could store something under his house.

First Sgt. Troy Wright said officers had been looking for Cunningham since the theft. He was arrested by the Highway Patrol on a traffic violation but was released from the Union County Jail on a personal recognizance bond. Wright said Sgt. David Brewington and other officers realized there was another warrant for Cunningham, who had left the jail walking toward home. Sgt. Dean Gibson picked up Cunningham and took him back to jail.

Thefts and vandalism

Monday, a victim told Deputy Tim Gaston that her 1996 Chevrolet broke down at a residence on Monarch Highway on June 27. She went back to retrieve it on July 13 and it was gone. She said she believed someone sold her vehicle.

Also on Monday, a victim on 201 Brockman Heights told Cpl. Scott Farr that someone scratched all over her Dodge Charger. The driver’s side door handle also was broken and items were scattered throughout the passenger compartment of the car. Damage was estimated at $3,000.

At Rosemont Cemetery on 123 Sardis Road, a victim told Cpl. Dell Mitchell Monday that someone cut two locks off the storage building and took a John Deere string trimmer worth $180. Someone also went in the office and rambled through drawers and a closet. Pry marks were found on the back door.