Authorities search for Gaston County prison escapee

Authorities are searching for an inmate who escaped from a state prison in Dallas, N.C., on Tuesday afternoon.

Dennis Carver, a minimum-security inmate at Gaston Correctional Center, left while performing maintenance duties outside the prison’s perimeter fence, said Keith Acree, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Public Safety.

Carver is serving a five-year sentence for larceny of a motor vehicle and was scheduled for release in March 2019, Acree said.

Anyone with information on Carver’s whereabouts is asked to call local law enforcement or Gaston Correctional Center at 704-922-3861.

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Authorities search for Gaston County prison escapee."