FRANKFORT, Ky. (WHAS11) – A Franklin County man who escaped a North Carolina prison in 1972 turned himself into Kentucky authorities Monday after being on the run for more than four decades.

Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton confirmed Monday night the man who identified himself as Clarence David Moore is the same person identified by North Carolina Department of Public Safety records as escapee David Edward Moore.

Moore, 66, called the sheriff’s office around 4 p.m. to turn himself in, Melton said.

“I need to make this right and get through this,” the sheriff recalled Moore saying.

Melton said deputies took Moore to the Frankfort Regional Medical Center to be checked out before transferring him to the Franklin County Jail.

According to North Carolina Department of Public Safety prison records, Moore had been convicted of larceny in July 1967 and was 23 at the time of the reported escape from the former Polk Youth Institute in Butner, North Carolina on June 10, 1972.

The records show he was originally scheduled to be released from the facility June 1, 1978.

During his time on the run, Melton said, Moore was involved in a 2009 car accident in Franklin County but did not have any identification to verify his identity, allowing him to evade capture.

Melton said, as a result of now learning his true identity, deputies obtained a contempt of court arrest warrant in connection to that wreck.

Melton said Moore would be arraigned in court Tuesday morning. It’s unclear whether the existing escape charge would supersede the local charge.

“If he agrees to be extradited willingly, our extradition office will make arrangements to have him returned to NC to serve the remainder of his sentence,” North Carolina Department of Public Safety Spokesperson Keith Acree said in an email, “If he fights extradition, then a more complicated legal process begins to get him returned to NC.”

When calculated, there have been 15,654 days between Moore’s escape and capture.

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