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NATCHEZ — Concordia Parish Sheriff David Hedrick said the New Orleans jail escapee reported to have been seen this morning in Natchez is Antoine Massey, originally of the New Orleans area.

Hedrick said someone reported seeing Massey on Providence Road at approximately 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. While the sighting of Massey is unconfirmed, out of caution, Hedrick said his deputies, as well as personnel from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Natchez Police Department, the Louisiana State Police, the Mississippi Highway Patrol, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and the FBI, are searching for the suspect.

“We will be there until we know whether it is him or not,” Hedrick said.

Hedrick and his Chief Deputy Fred Middleton, along with the Louisiana State Police, searched the area this morning via helicopter. Other agencies are searching the area on foot and in various vehicles.

According to national news reports, Massey has broken out of detention centers and jails for years, beginning as a juvenile in New Orleans. In 2007, at age 15, Massey escaped a New Orleans juvenile detention center after being charged with armed robbery and aggravated assault.

He is reported to have escaped a Morehouse Parish jail in 2019 and was caught a day later in Texas. On two other later incidents, he allegedly cut off ankle monitors — once in a Walmart — and escaped detention.

Massey was in the New Orleans jail for alleged rape and kidnapping in St. Tammany Parish, as well as domestic abuse and theft in Orleans Parish, when he and nine others escaped through a bathroom wall earlier this month. He is one of the two New Orleans escapees not back in custody.

The FBI has increased its reward offer to $10,000 per escapee, and Crime Stoppers has increased its reward to $5,000.

Massey should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with any information should contact Crime Stoppers at (888) 442-5001. You do not have to give your name, and Crime Stoppers does not have caller ID.