A Viola man, suspected of robbing the Taylor Ridge Post Office and of multiple burglaries, now reportedly faces a charge of attempted escape.
Walker Hampton, 40, was accused of scraping away mortar around the glass blocks of a window in his cell at the Mercer County Jail according to WRMJ radio.
Hampton was already facing Mercer County burglary and theft charges in connection with a February 2015 break in of a shed owned by Mack Trucking of Viola. Court records showed he was also charged with misdemeanor theft in late December 2014 in Mercer County.
Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos previously said Hampton was suspected of being the man who used a handgun to demand money from two employees inside the Taylor Ridge Post Office on Saturday, January 24, 2015, and that he was charged in connection with a residential burglary that happened January 29 in Rock Island County.
Court records showed Hampton had a hearing in Mercer County Court on Monday, May 11, and was next due in court June 9. He remained held there in lieu of the previously-set $300,000 bond.
