Escapee on U.S. Marshals' most wanted list

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An Elberton man who gunned down a guard during an armored car heist in Athens a decade ago has made the U.S. Marshals Service's Most Wanted list after escaping from a maximum-security prison and kidnapping a woman.

Johnny Mack Brown, 52, and another inmate escaped Oct. 13 from Hays State Prison in Trion, a town in Chattooga County about 20 miles from the Alabama line in Northwest Georgia.

Marshals think the men went their separate ways, but Brown was seen last Oct. 20 at his brother's home in Franklin County, where he made the kidnapped woman drive him, officials said.

The escape is Brown's second; he also busted out of the Clarke County Jail in 1998.

"Johnny Brown has a long history of criminal activity, and he has proven himself to be a great threat to anyone who crosses his path," said John F. Clark, the Marshals Service's director. "Brown's addition as a (most wanted) fugitive underscores our commitment to use all of our available resources to bring him to justice."

The most wanted list includes a convicted cop killer, motorcycle gang members convicted of murder and racketeering, and a man who kidnapped a prison guard and hijacked an airplane while on the lam.

U.S. Marshals consider Brown to be armed and dangerous.

Brown and Michael Anthony Tweedel - who was serving two 10-year sentences for armed robberies in Cobb County - escaped from Hays State Prison by climbing on top of a dormitory building to avoid an interior fence and scaling two perimeter fences and eight strands of razor wire, officials said.

A week later, on Oct. 20, Brown broke into a woman's home in Chattooga County and forced her at knifepoint to drive him to his brother's house in the Fairview community, off Georgia Highway 59 between Carnesville and Lavonia, officials said.

Investigators didn't know exactly how 46-year-old Tony Brown helped his fugitive brother, but Franklin County sheriff's deputies charged him with obstruction after he admitted that Johnny Mack Brown had been to the home, Franklin County Sheriff Stevie Thomas said.

Someone in a dark colored compact car picked up Brown in Franklin County, and he hasn't been seen since, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Eleven years ago, Brown severely wounded a Loomis Fargo armored car guard when he shot the guard three times in the chest during a Dec. 22, 1997, armed robbery at Perimeter Square shopping center off Atlanta Highway.

Brown was convicted of armed robbery, aggravated assault with intent to murder, aggravated battery, theft by taking, hijacking a motor vehicle and aggravated assault, and was sentenced to life plus 90 years in prison. He escaped from Clarke County Jail in September 1998 by scaling a wall.

During the three weeks he was on the run, he beat an 85-year-old man with a barbell and stole a car. Police arrested Brown in Daytona Beach, Fla., when they found him asleep in another car he stole.

Although authorities continue to search for Brown and the other escapee in Georgia, the U.S. Marshals believe the men might try to flee to Mexico or Canada.

A $25,000 reward is offered for information leading to Brown's arrest. Anyone with information can call the Marshals' 24-hour hotline at 1-800-336-0102.

Escapee on U.S. Marshals' most wanted list | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com