(NewsNation) — A Michigan prison inmate who was transported to an Ohio court has been missing for nearly two months after being mistakenly released from jail there, authorities said Monday.
Christopher Bibbs Jr., 21, was “incorrectly released” from the Warren County, Ohio, jail on March 23, the Michigan Corrections Department said. He’s likely in the Detroit area, the department said.
“We have some intelligence that let us know that based on a few phone calls that he made before the jail let him go, that he was looking for transportation back to Wayne County,” said Michigan Corrections Department spokesperson Chris Gautz. “We have some further intelligence that leads us to believe that he is in the Detroit area.”
Gautz acknowledged that Bibbs’ disappearance wasn’t publicized when it occurred in March.
“Our intelligence unit and our recovery unit prefer us not to go public right away, because they know, their typical haunts, they know the places that they would go. They feel like if we were to put them out on television and tell everyone that they were looking for him, they would go further underground,” Gautz said. “We did that in this case, but ultimately, we felt that it was best at this point to have the public’s help and look for him.”
Bibbs began serving a minimum four-year sentence for carjacking in May 2022. In Ohio, he was facing charges in a different case, said Maj. Brett Richardson, administrator of the Warren County jail.
He has an arm tattoo that says “Only the strong survive,” the department said.
There was no “paperwork in his inmate file stating that he would need to be returned to Michigan,” officials said.
Authorities ask anyone who sees Bibbs or has details about his location to call 911.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.