Authorities are searching for a minimum security inmate from the state prison in Douglas who has escaped from a work crew.
Arizona Department of Corrections officials say Lonnie Smith left the work crew at the Huachuca City Landfill early Thursday afternoon in a city-owned vehicle.
DOC officials notified the state Department of Public Safety, Cochise County Sheriff's Office, Sierra Vista Police Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies and deployed its tracking teams.
Smith has been in prison since March 5 after a conviction for drug paraphernalia violation and misconduct involving a weapon. He was scheduled to be released in June 2012. Smith was previously imprisoned in Arizona in 1996 for theft and forgery convictions.
