Pubdate: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 Source: Des Moines Register (IA) http://www.dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051119/NEWS01/511190316/1001/NEWS Copyright: 2005 The Des Moines Register. Contact: http://desmoinesregister.com/index.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/123 Author: Kevin Dobbs, Register Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) VILSACK: EMPLOYEES TO BE DISCIPLINED FOR PRISON ESCAPES One Worker Is Punished; Governor Says More To Come Six hours after Missouri police captured the second of two inmates who escaped from an Iowa maximum-security prison earlier this week, Gov. Tom Vilsack announced that one prison employee has been suspended and more workers will face punishment. "We are going to hold all those who did not do their jobs properly accountable," Vilsack said Friday. He did not identify the suspended employee but said the internal investigation "will continue until we have all the answers that we seek." Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, was captured at a truck stop in Steele, Mo., about 7:30 a.m. Friday. Steele is a small town about 200 miles south of St. Louis. Pemiscot (Mo.) County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell said a resident spotted Legendre at the truck stop. Legendre was alone in a stolen pickup and "offered no resistance," Greenwell said. Legendre, convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping in the state of Nevada, escaped from the state penitentiary in Fort Madison on Monday with Martin Shane Moon, who was serving a life term for the 1999 shooting death of a man in Clarke County. Moon, 34, was found early Thursday, asleep in a car near Chester, Ill. He was returned to Fort Madison early Friday and charged with felony escape. The two men, who split up shortly after the escape, were found about 125 miles apart. Fort Madison-area residents were relieved to hear of the arrests, but the news didn't erase all their concerns. "I'm much more aware of locking my doors at home and making sure my car doors are locked at stop signs, and I worry about my kids at school," said Marie Frenz, a cafe waitress and mother of two. Authorities said Legendre is thought to have robbed and assaulted two taxi drivers before he made his way to Steele. St. Louis police Friday had not yet charged Legendre with the attacks. Richard Wilkes, a police spokesman, said a man who matched Legendre's description was picked up outside a St. Louis store by a female cabdriver about 5 p.m. Thursday. She was assaulted and robbed. The man was picked up by a male cabdriver at the St. Louis airport about six hours later. The driver was robbed and struck before he managed to flee, police said. Legendre, who was transferred to Fort Madison last year, was convicted of the kidnap and attempted murder of a Las Vegas cabby. Legendre was in the Pemiscot County Jail on Friday and was expected to be sent to St. Louis to be charged, authorities said. "As long as he's locked up safely, I'm satisfied," said Eugene Meyer, director of Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation. Iowa authorities have said that Moon and Legendre used an improvised rope and a grappling hook to scale a limestone wall at Fort Madison. They apparently avoided detection, in part, because a guard tower was unmanned as a result of state budget cuts. Meyer said there was no evidence that the two men had outside help to make the escape. Vilsack said that there were a series of mistakes that allowed the escape. He cited prison officers' failure to conduct routine headcounts. "That has been corrected," and a number of other steps are forthcoming, Vilsack said. Vilsack said he will provide more information after the investigation. "I think that prison officials will be a lot more careful," said Peggy Rickelman, a baker at the Ivy Bakeshoppe Cafe in Fort Madison. "I don't think that they're going to let things slide like that again." Others aren't so sure. Anne Schock, who lives in northeast Missouri and traveled through Fort Madison on Friday for business, said, "If those two can do it, how many more can?"