Staff Writer

Authorities are looking for a Union County Detention Center inmate who walked away from his job this morning.

Detention center director Niel McKeown said Lee Anthony Evans, 48, of 106 Pinedale Ave. was discovered missing early this morning.

"During a food delivery he exited a gate and climbed a fence to freedom," McKeown said.

The fence was topped with razor wire.

Deputies immediately set up a perimeter around the detention center area. Union Public Safety officers were told to be on the lookout as well and kept Evans' house under surveillance.

McKeown said Evans, a kitchen worker, could have taken a knife with him when he left.

Evans, a black man, is 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighs around 160 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes. He has been a prisoner at the detention center since March 24 when he began serving a six-month sentence for failure to pay child support.

When Evans was last seen, he was wearing orange detention center- issued pants and a white T-shirt with Union County Detention Center on the back. He may have had a denim coat that also has the center's name on the back.

Anyone who has contact with him is asked to call Union County Crime Stoppers at 427-0800. A reward may be given for information leading to his arrest.