By Stetson Payne
and Ernest Herndon
Enterprise-Journal

LIBERTY — A Franklin County man who fled Amite County deputies and Mississippi state troopers was arrested in Natchez late Tuesday night.

Amite County Sheriff Tim Wroten said Adams County deputies and the Mississippi Department of Corrections arrested Calvin Austin Perry, 25, of McCall Creek, at a house 13 hours after he fled his probation officer in Liberty.

Wroten said Perry met with his probation officer at the Amite County Sheriff’s Department about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Perry reportedly told his probation officer he had marijuana in his car. When the probation officer went with a deputy to Perry’s car, they didn’t find marijuana, but he allegedly found crystal meth instead.

Perry reportedly fled on foot along Mississippi 48 heading south of Liberty. He then lost deputies and headed west toward Ethel Vance Park.

Deputies called in search dogs from the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.

Perry made his way through the Ethel Vance Natural Area’s swamps and across the Amite River.

He ventured onto Randy Caston’s property and stole a white 2001 Chevrolet flatbed pickup truck.

The truck and Perry turned up in Natchez that evening and he was arrested without incident.

Wroten said Perry was extradited back to Amite County on Wednesday morning.

Wroten said he believed Perry was on probation for stealing a motorcycle near Centreville.