CNN
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All nine teenagers who escaped from a juvenile detention center in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, Sunday evening have been captured, a state police official said Monday morning.
Four of the escapees were captured after knocking on a homeowner’s early Monday, said David Beohm, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania State Police troop in Reading.
“They were done, they were tired, they were cold,” Beohm said during a news conference. “They basically gave up.”
The other five teens stole a vehicle and four were captured after a pursuit with police a short time later Beohm said. The remaining teen took off running into a field and was captured shortly after, he added.
The escapees had earlier attempted to break into a car around midnight to 1 a.m., Beohm said in an early Monday update.
“I don’t know what alerted the homeowners, but they broke the window of the car, lights came on, and then they took off,” he said.
All nine of the teens, ages 15 to 17, were captured within about four miles of the detention center, Abraxas Academy, and none actively resisted arrest, Beohm said. The teens will be charged with escape, as well as any crimes allegedly committed during the escape, he added.
About 60 people, including state and local police, worked overnight to find the escapees. Police also employed K-9s and drones, Boehm said.
The juvenile facility is about 15 miles west of South Coventry Township, where escaped murder convict Danilo Cavalcante was captured on Wednesday after nearly two weeks on the run.
“We’re asking the people in this area again, kind of like we did two weeks ago, lock everything up, take your keys out of your car, be vigilant,” Beohm said earlier Monday, before the teens were captured.
The teens managed to escape by overpowering two prison employees, Beohm said. “They were able to get the keys and then they were able to get out the side door, or one of the doors.”
He said the escapees likely got through the fence of the facility by going under it.
State and local law enforcement responded to Abraxas Academy after the escape and took “back control of the juvenile detention center,” the Caernarvon Township Police Department said in a statement.
“I would call it more of a disturbance than a riot. It wasn’t anything like what we had here a couple of months ago,” Beohm said, referring to an incident at the facility in July.
Fifty teenagers were involved in a riot at Abraxas Academy on July 4, CNN affiliate WFMZ reported. A large police presence responded and no one escaped, WFMZ said.
“It was a very serious incident, which I think the fact that 19 police departments responded to Abraxas Academy speaks for itself,” Berks County District Attorney John Adams told WFMZ in at the time.
“We’re concerned. We’re concerned that this institution which houses our most serious juvenile offenders who’ve been accused of a crime or convicted of a crime – they have to be able to maintain control,” he added.
During the search, the nearby Twin Valley School District had announced it would be closed Monday “out of an abundance of caution.”
Abraxas Academy is a “secure residential treatment program” that provides “specialized care for delinquent male youth between the ages of 14 to 18 in 9th grade or above,” according to the facility’s website.
“Treatment at the Academy is for youth who demonstrate a consistent display of delinquent patterns through multiple placements, serious charges, and problematic behaviors. Youth are admitted to the Academy for either habitual offending behaviors or for a history of sexual offending behavior,” the website reads.
CNN has reached out to Abraxas Academy and the Berks County District Attorney’s Office for comment.
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