VILSACK: EMPLOYEES TO BE DISCIPLINED FOR PRISON ESCAPES

One Worker Is Punished; Governor Says More To Come

Six hours after Missouri police captured the second of two inmates
who escaped from an Iowa maximum-security prison earlier this week,
Gov. Tom Vilsack announced that one prison employee has been
suspended and more workers will face punishment.

"We are going to hold all those who did not do their jobs properly
accountable," Vilsack said Friday.

He did not identify the suspended employee but said the internal
investigation "will continue until we have all the answers that we seek."

Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, was captured at a truck stop in Steele,
Mo., about 7:30 a.m. Friday. Steele is a small town about 200 miles
south of St. Louis.

Pemiscot (Mo.) County Sheriff Tommy Greenwell said a resident spotted
Legendre at the truck stop. Legendre was alone in a stolen pickup and
"offered no resistance," Greenwell said.

Legendre, convicted of attempted murder and kidnapping in the state
of Nevada, escaped from the state penitentiary in Fort Madison on
Monday with Martin Shane Moon, who was serving a life term for the
1999 shooting death of a man in Clarke County.

Moon, 34, was found early Thursday, asleep in a car near Chester,
Ill. He was returned to Fort Madison early Friday and charged with
felony escape. The two men, who split up shortly after the escape,
were found about 125 miles apart.

Fort Madison-area residents were relieved to hear of the arrests, but
the news didn't erase all their concerns.

"I'm much more aware of locking my doors at home and making sure my
car doors are locked at stop signs, and I worry about my kids at
school," said Marie Frenz, a cafe waitress and mother of two.

Authorities said Legendre is thought to have robbed and assaulted two
taxi drivers before he made his way to Steele. St. Louis police
Friday had not yet charged Legendre with the attacks.

Richard Wilkes, a police spokesman, said a man who matched Legendre's
description was picked up outside a St. Louis store by a female
cabdriver about 5 p.m. Thursday. She was assaulted and robbed. The
man was picked up by a male cabdriver at the St. Louis airport about
six hours later. The driver was robbed and struck before he managed
to flee, police said.

Legendre, who was transferred to Fort Madison last year, was
convicted of the kidnap and attempted murder of a Las Vegas cabby.

Legendre was in the Pemiscot County Jail on Friday and was expected
to be sent to St. Louis to be charged, authorities said.

"As long as he's locked up safely, I'm satisfied," said Eugene Meyer,
director of Iowa's Division of Criminal Investigation.

Iowa authorities have said that Moon and Legendre used an improvised
rope and a grappling hook to scale a limestone wall at Fort Madison.
They apparently avoided detection, in part, because a guard tower was
unmanned as a result of state budget cuts.

Meyer said there was no evidence that the two men had outside help to
make the escape.

Vilsack said that there were a series of mistakes that allowed the
escape. He cited prison officers' failure to conduct routine headcounts.

"That has been corrected," and a number of other steps are
forthcoming, Vilsack said.

Vilsack said he will provide more information after the investigation.

"I think that prison officials will be a lot more careful," said
Peggy Rickelman, a baker at the Ivy Bakeshoppe Cafe in Fort Madison.
"I don't think that they're going to let things slide like that again."

Others aren't so sure.

Anne Schock, who lives in northeast Missouri and traveled through
Fort Madison on Friday for business, said, "If those two can do it,
how many more can?"