REGIONAL — A man who escaped from the Northeast Regional Corrections Center, a minimum-security facility operated by St. Louis County near Saginaw, on Sept. 23 has been captured after more than two weeks on the run.
According to the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Michael Todd Hart was taken into custody on Oct. 7 after law enforcement executed a search warrant at a residence in Cohasset. Members of the Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force located Hart hiding beneath a basement stairwell. When he refused to surrender, officers used pepper balls to subdue him and place him under arrest.
Hart had escaped from NERCC on the evening of Sept. 23. Authorities said he was last seen walking north from the facility toward Independence, prompting a large-scale search.
Investigators believed Hart might return to the Iron Range, where he had family and other connections. Deputies later received information that led to the search warrant in Cohasset.
A woman identified as Devon Michelle Shackelton, 29, was also arrested for aiding an offender. Both Hart and Shackelton were booked into the Itasca County Jail pending arraignment on new charges.