Inmate mistakenly released, turns himself in
TRENTON, Tenn. — Gibson County deputies said an inmate, who has been on the run for two days, is now back in custody. Andrew Beard turned himself in to deputies around 9:30 p.m. ,Thursday night after they said he saw his mugshot on WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News. Investigators said he is no stranger to the Gibson County Jail, but his early release on Tuesday was not meant to be all because he was mistaken for another inmate. “The main thing is just human error and oversight,” Chief Deputy Danny Lewis with the Gibson County Sheriff’s Office said. “This person was released without the proper paper work.” Beard was sentenced to serve time in the Gibson County Jail, Monday for drug charges but the next day he was let go. Officers said he was confused for another inmate with the same first name. “The same time Andrew Cole was being released there was some confusion on the Andrews,” Lewis said. “That’s how Andrew Beard was released by mistake.” It was a breakdown in protocol that deputies are owning up to. “These are experienced people in our jail,” Lewis said. “It was just an oversight and they got lax but it shouldn’t have happened.” Although human error like this has some residents worried others said it was just a common mistake. “The two of them having the same name, I might have done the same thing,” John Thompson said. “I don’t blame the sheriff one bit.” Deputies said they are already taking new steps to make sure something like this does not happen again like implementing a new bar-coding system for inmates. Beard will now serve out the remainder of his sentence of 8 years for drug charges.
