Felon caught after escaping NC prison during ‘family visitation’, officials say
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — North Carolina officials say a man convicted of assault with serious bodily injury escaped prison during “a family visitation” Sunday afternoon until he was caught about five hours later and less than a mile away.
The escape took place just after 1 p.m. at Rutherford Correctional Center near Spindale in Rutherford County, about 70 miles west of Charlotte, according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Corrections.
The news release said the escape happened “during family visitation” at the facility, a minimum-security prison for men nearing the end of their sentences.
Roy Steven Buff, 33, is serving about three years for a conviction of felony assault – inflicting serious bodily injury following a case in Rutherford County, officials said and prison records indicate.
Before his escape Sunday, he was scheduled for release in May 2025, the news release said. The assault took place in August 2022 and his sentence began in mid-December of that year.
Around 6 p.m. Sunday, Buff was captured by K-9 officers and the Prison Emergency Response Team from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, officials said.
Buff was caught less than a mile from the prison at a business along Old Ballpark Road in Spindale, according to a 6:30 p.m. news release.
He will be returned to a higher security prison facility and will face escape charges, authorities said.
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