Missing Pittsburg County jail inmate still on loose

Thursday, August 4th 2005, 2:14 pm

By: News On 6

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) -- The search continues for a Pittsburg County Jail inmate who walked away from a work crew and was last seen heading south from Durant in a stolen pickup truck.

Undersheriff Richard Sexton says 20-year-old Joe Bascom was on a work detail in McAlester when he said he had to use the rest room and instead stole a truck nearby. Sexton says Bascom drove to a meat processing plant and stole a second truck .

Bascom is believed to have met a friend in Atoka, then drove to Durant where he filled the truck with gas and drove away without paying. He was last seen driving south.

Bascom was being held for concealing stolen property. He's white, 6-feet tall, 175-pounds with a scar on the left side of his face.

The pickup is a red Chevrolet Z-71 with a personalized license tag "CHRIS-K." It has Marine Corps stickers and a cowboy mural in the back window.