New York authorities apprehend escaped Bronx inmate

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said Saturday that an inmate who escaped from a Bronx prison earlier in the day had been apprehended after a massive search by multiple law enforcement agencies. 

The department tweeted early Saturday evening that David Mordukhaev had been apprehended, just hours after law enforcement shared an image of the man seeking information on his whereabouts. 

UPDATE: David has been apprehended. https://t.co/fAh8lZtJ30

— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) July 10, 2021

In a statement shared with The Hill, Peter Thorne the deputy commissioner for public information at the New York City Department of Corrections, said that officials early Saturday morning had determined that “an individual in custody was missing from his assigned housing area” at the Vernon C. Bain Center (VCBC) in the Bronx. 

The department identified Mordukhaev, 30, as the inmate, and Thorne said that the city’s “Correction Intelligence Bureau immediately began working around-the-clock with our law enforcement partners at multiple levels” to locate the man. 

Department of Corrections Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi confirmed that the “individual who escaped this morning has been re-apprehended.” 

“I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to our Correction Intelligence Bureau, the US Marshals Service, the NYPD, and our fellow law enforcement partners at multiple levels for their successful coordinated efforts to locate this individual,” Schiraldi said in a statement shared with The Hill. “This incident remains under investigation and we will be thoroughly addressing any and all deficiencies that led to this event.”  

Thorne said that the ongoing investigation will “ensure that this does not happen again, and disciplinary action, if warranted, will be taken at the conclusion of the investigation.”

“No escape from our facilities is ever acceptable,” Thorne added. 

It was not clear what arrest initially brought Mordukhaev to the VCBC, which is nicknamed “The Boat.” 

According to an online description, the five-story correctional facility opened in 1992 and holds medium to maximum security inmates in a total of 16 dormitories and 100 cells.