(Published November 20‚ 2003)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A 17-year-old Columbia boy who escaped from a juvenile prison here has been arrested and charged with armed robbery and carjacking, authorities say.

Raymond Harrison escaped from a state Department of Juvenile Justice facility Oct. 23 and was arrested Wednesday at a motel.

He has been charged in the Nov. 2 carjacking of a 34-year-old woman, who had her car stolen after a suspect showed a handgun and demanded her keys, police said.

Harrison also has been charged in the Oct. 23 armed robbery of a 46-year-old woman at a sporting goods store parking lot and the Nov. 18 armed robbery of a discount store, Columbia police said.

Harrison escaped with a 16-year-old Myrtle Beach boy by cutting a hole through a fence, Juvenile Justice spokeswoman Loretta Neal said. But Neal was not sure what they used to cut the fence.

The 16-year-old, who was not identified because of his age, was found Oct. 25 in Myrtle Beach. He had been at the DJJ facility on a probation violation charge.

Harrison was at the facility on a charge of grand larceny of a motor vehicle, Neal said. Harrison was being held at the Alvin Glenn Detention Center on Thursday.