Deputies in Laurel County arrested a Jefferson County jail escapee early Tuesday morning.

Deputies responded to Chaney Ridge Road after witnesses reported a semi stuck in a ditch and said the driver appeared intoxicated. Officials say that when deputies arrived, the man ran. Deputies chased him down and took him into custody after a short scuffle.

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After an investigation, deputies learned Curtis Brewer, 35, had escaped from the jail in Jefferson County, stolen a truck and driven to Laurel County on March 22. He was serving a 10-year sentence for burglary. Deputies say he admitted to taking a large amount of meth before driving the truck into the ditch.

Deputies charged Brewer with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, fleeing police, resisting arrest, menacing, and receiving stolen property. He also faces an escape charge out of Jefferson County.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office today announced the roundup of 26 men, accused of using the Internet to line up sex with what they believed were children.

Each of the men, ranging in age from 19 to 51, showed up at a house in Seminole County within the past five days and was arrested, said Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma.

The men believed they’d meet children between the ages of 11 and 14, Lemma said, “but instead, they met us. … These are the people that are living and working in our community.”

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Two of the men were vacationing in Central Florida, said Sgt. Mike Cannaday. One was from Ohio, the other from Georgia.

Ten were from Seminole County. Others were from Orange, Volusia, Osceola, Polk, Lake and Putnam counties.

One man, 26-year-old Justin Gray of Winter Springs, told officers he set up the meeting with a child as a way to celebrate his wedding anniversary, Cannaday said.

The suspects include two pizza deliverymen, a postal worker, a security guard and a 20-year-old landscaper whose mother dropped him off at the house where the rendezvous was to take place, Lemma said.

The men used chat rooms, social media and other Internet sites to communicate with undercover deputies and police officers from other agencies posing as children or the parents of children, willing to let their children have sex with a stranger, Lemma said.

That included FaceBook, Snapchat, Kik and WhatsApp, Cannaday said.

Some suspects spent hours chatting online, authorities said. At least one made a phone call to a woman officer, posing as a girl, Lemma said.

Lemma and Cannaday urged parents to more closely monitor what their children do on the Internet and talk to them about the danger of striking up a friendship with strangers online.

“Have an age-appropriate conversation,” Cannaday told one mother, asking his advice on how to protect her son. “There are bad people out there who may hurt you if you give them the opportunity. Don’t give them the opportunity.”

He urged parents who suspect their children might be at risk to “contact law enforcement. Let us get involved. Let us help.”

Each suspect was arrested, accused of traveling to meet a minor for sex, Cannaday said.

The Sheriff’s Office dubbed the undertaking “Operation SafeNet.” It also included several other law enforcement agencies, among them the police departments in Apopka, Casselberry, Longwood, Oviedo and Sanford and the Sheriff’s Offices in Orange, Osceola, Volusia, Lake, Polk, Citrus, Manatee and Pinellas counties plus the FBI.

The search for a missing 8-year-old D.C. girl and the man police believe she is with continued Monday as authorities posted a $25,000 reward and released new photos of the child and suspect in a hunt that now stretches from Pennsylvania to Richmond.

“We will follow every lead and every investigative tip that comes in,” said D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier. “No bit of information is too small. . . . Our primary goal right now is to find this little girl.”

Relisha Rudd , who had lived with her mother at a homeless shelter at the old D.C. General Hospital, has been the subject of an intense search since Wednesday, when police first got involved. Her mother last saw Relisha about two weeks ago, when she allowed her daughter to leave with the shelter’s janitor, Kahlil Tatum, 51.

Tatum is charged in an arrest warrant with the killing of his wife, Andrea Denise Tatum, whose body was found Thursday at a motel in Oxon Hill. Two vehicles linked to the couple were parked at the motel. Another vehicle that police say Tatum used after leaving the hotel, a white GMC truck, was found Thursday.

Pictures released by D.C. police and the FBI show Relisha playing. Another photo shows Tatum dressed in a white sleeveless T-shirt, tatoos on his left forearm and in sunglasses — a different look than that described by shelter residents, who said the janitor often wore designer clothes and sometimes a suit and tie.

Lanier answered few questions at Monday’s news conference, saying that she would only discuss issues that could help police find Relisha. Lanier would not comment on whether police have narrowed their search, but police in Richmond have said their officers were put on heightened alert.

The chief did address questions regarding an Amber Alert that was issued Thursday. Such alerts — sent out by authorities to help find endangered children — break into television and radio shows and flash messages on overhead highway signs and some electronic billboards. But days into the search, no such messages appeared in Maryland, including on the state’s section of the Capital Beltway and the I-95 corridor, and only infrequently in parts of Northern Virginia.

Amber Alerts are issued only in certain circumstances, with evidence indicating the child has been abducted and is in danger, and typically include a description of a suspect who may be with the child, or the vehicle that person may be using. Lanier said police sought an Amber Alert before all the criteria were met because officers believed the matter to be urgent, even after the girl’s mother initially told police that she had approved of Tatum taking the child. A counselor who noted Relisha’s extended absence from school first informed authorities, who then began investigating.

Lanier said D.C. police informed more than two dozen police agencies in Maryland and Virginia about the Amber Alert for Relisha, including state police offices. But officials in both agencies said they did not receive an official request addressed to the correct office. A spokeswoman for Virginia State Police said officials there e-mailed D.C. police twice to ask whether an Amber Alert should be put out but got no response.

Maryland State Police spokesman Gregory M. Shipley said a trooper with the department’s child recovery unit responded to the Oxon Hill motel where Tatum’s wife was found dead but was told that no assistance was needed. Shipley said a request for an Amber Alert never got through to the 24-hour duty-officer — the person with authority to initiate an alert.

Lanier said several requests were made through Maryland’s emergency alert system, called EMNet, used by the Maryland Emergency Management Agency. Spokesman Edward J. McDonough said his agency received an Amber Alert request at 6:44 a.m. Friday, through Virginia State Police, and that it was not put up because it didn’t come through proper Maryland State Police channels.

“We’re probably going to review our protocols on a case like this,” McDonough said.

Salt Lake City residents are being asked to be on the lookout for a California man, Nathaniel Vamvas, 24, who was last seen on Tuesday, March 18, 2014 after being released from Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Jordan. He was last seen on camera leaving the Salt Lake Community College, Jordan Campus (3491 West 9000 South), near the hospital, where he used the phone to reach his wife, Rachel Vamvas at 10:06 p.m. San Clemente, CA resident, Vamvas has been staying in Lehi with his in-laws Ron and Danette Randall, with his wife and infant daughter since Fall 2013.

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He was last seen wearing a black-hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and tennis shoes. He is also wearing a necklace with a cross pendant and a wedding ring on his left hand.

Any sightings or information about Vamvas’ whereabouts is requested to be provided to the West Jordan Police Department @ 801.840.4000.

Four people, including two employees and the director of a Richmond daycare, were arrested on drug charges after police found 58 packs of heroin in their homes.

Police and deputies searched homes on Richmond’s North Cross Point Thursday finding 58 packs of heroin in folded lottery tickets.

Jermaine Benning, Jermaine Twilley, Christopher Mullins and Jennifer Mullins were arrested.

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Jennifer Mullins is the director of “Jen’s Little Rascals Learning Center” in Richmond. Two of the others are employees at the center.

The one suspect police couldn’t find is Mullins’ boyfriend, Joe Davis Twilley. He remains on the loose.

The daycare was open for business Monday. Parents dropping off their children and workers didn’t want to comment.

Berea Police say the investigation is far from over.

Lexington Police are looking for a suspect after a robbery at the Shell on Versailles Road and Alexandria Drive.

Police say around 12:30 p.m. a man with a large knife came into the store and demanded money. He fled on foot out of store and made a right. K9 units were brought out to the scene to help in the search.

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The suspect is described as a black man about 5’5″ with a medium build. He is said to be wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a black mask, black jeans and gloves.

A former employee of a child day care center in Nicholasville, Kentucky was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $201,060 in restitution for defrauding her employer.

U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell sentenced Pamela Sandlin, 55, for fraud. Under federal law, Sandlin will have to serve at least 85 percent of her prison sentence.

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Sandlin previously admitted that, over the course of several years, she fraudulently took thousands of dollars while working as the assistant director at the Kids Connection Learning Center (KCLC). KCLC receives more than $10,000 annually in federal program funds.

According to her plea agreement, Sandlin was responsible for collecting money from parents, making bank deposits, and documenting financial transactions for KCLC. Court documents also established that Sandlin altered company records to conceal the fraud.

Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Perrye Turner, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, jointly made the announcement.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Taylor prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.

Lexington police have made an arrest in connection with a Sunday night shooting.

Police say Edward Sizemore, 62, got into an argument with his grandson at a home along King Arthur Drive around 10:30 p.m. Officers say that argument turned physical, and Sizemore shot his grandson in the abdomen during the fight.

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Police say the victim was a man in his early 20s or late teens. He was taken to UK Hospital. Officials said he underwent surgery and described his condition as stable.

Officers arrested Sizemore and charged him with assault.

Officials believe a fatal train accident in Pulaski County Monday morning may have been intentionally caused by the victim.

19-year-old Korey R. Nicholls was killed after being struck by a train near the Etna Road and Hwy 452 intersection, north of Science Hill.

Officials don’t know why Nicholls stood in front of an approaching train, but say some posts on his Facebook account suggest the act was intentional.

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They say the 19-year-old was standing still in the middle of the tracks facing a northbound train. Officials say the train initiated an emergency stop when the operator saw Nicholls, but the train couldn’t stop before striking him.

The Sheriff’s Office was called out to the scene at 5:29 a.m. Nicholls was pronounced dead at the scene by the Pulaski County Coroner’s Office.

The investigation is ongoing by the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, the Norfolk-Southern Police, and the Pulaski County Coroner’s Office.

Maine State Police say a former assistant coach for the Portland Pirates has been charged with soliciting sex from a 13-year-old female fan.

Maine State Public Safety Spokesperson Steve McCausland says that thirty-seven-year-old goaltending coach, Mike Minard of Falmouth has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of solicitation of a child to commit a prohibited act and sexual misconduct with a child younger than 14.

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Phoenix Coyotes Executive Vice President and General Manager Don Maloney issued a statement late Friday that said “On February 19, 2014, the Phoenix Coyotes were alerted by law enforcement that former Portland Pirates Goaltending Coach Mike Minard was the subject of a police investigation unrelated to his employment with the club.

Later that day, upon learning the nature of the investigation, the Coyotes terminated the employment of Minard with the club effective immediately.”

The Portland Pirates and Phoenix Coyotes have refused further comment on the situation citing the ongoing police investigation.

State Police say Minard has been issued a summons to answer the charges. An official at the Waldo County Jail confirms Minard was not arrested.