Robert Lee Liner, a Tuscaloosa native convicted of theft, had precious little time to enjoy his freedom. Mere hours after escaping from his job at HB&G in Troy, Liner was picked up by Troy Police.

Liner, who was working a night shift at HB&G as part of a work-release program offered by Bullock County corrections, was seen at his 4:30 a.m. break Friday morning, but was declared missing shortly thereafter. Bullock County sent an officer to the column-making facility and immediately notified the Troy Police Department.

After putting out a &uot;be on the lookout&uot; alert, it was only a matter of hours until Liner was apprehended, according to information released by TPD Chief Anthony Everage.

&uot;Mr. Liner was located at 9:22 a.m. on McNeil Street,&uot; said Public Information Officer Benny Scarbrough. &uot;He was transported to Troy City Jail and turned over to Bullock County Work Release.&uot;

According to Scarbrough, Liner was walking down the road and was not at any particular residence on McNeil Street. Liner was picked up with no incident, he said.

&uot;You go out and do something like this and get charged with Escape – first degree which is a felony and that doesn't help your chances of getting out early,&uot; Scarbrough said. &uot;Charges will probably be filed by the prison system.&uot;

Scarbrough said the TPD had a system in place to locate any individuals that may be loose in the city.

&uot;Once we get information on an individual, whether it's a missing person or a wanted person, then we make sure each one of our officers knew as much about that as we had available to us. We send out a BOLO, which tells them to 'be on the look out',&uot; he said.

Stephen Stetson can be reached at stephen.stetson @troymessenger.com.