Jacksonville, Florida - Derrick S. McCullough (31, Keystone Heights) today pleaded guilty to escaping from a residential reentry center (halfway house) where he was completing a prior 50-month federal prison sentence. McCullough faces a maximum penalty of five additional years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, in May 2018, a U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of West Virginia found McCullough guilty of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and committed him to the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to serve 50 months’ imprisonment. In December 2020, the BOP transferred McCullough into the custody of Keeton Corrections, Inc. Jacksonville Residential Reentry Center, a halfway house, to complete the remainder of his sentence.
McCullough was employed during portions of his time at Keeton. While employed there, he was permitted to leave the facility for work, but was required to return afterwards. On March 29, 2021, McCullough supposedly left Keeton to go to work, but later that day, his employer notified a Keeton official that McCullough was not present. On May 24, 2021, McCullough was arrested in Bradford County. In the intervening period (approximately two months), he never returned to Keeton.
This case was investigated by U.S. Marshals Service and the Bradford County Narcotics Task Force. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
