Eight days after Lycoming County Prison inmate Harry Thomas Bell jumped out of a vehicle and fled while being returned to the county’s Pre-Release Center in Loyalsock Township, law enforcement officers received a tip on the afternoon of Dec. 27 that the 43-year-old fugitive was staying at a motel on Lycoming Creek Road in Old Lycoming Township. Bell, of 671 Campbell St., jumped out of a second-story window in an attempt to elude officers, who had responded to the business and surrounded the property, it was alleged in an affidavit filed by the county sheriff’s department.

Bell was captured and taken to UPMC Williamsport to get treated for injuries he suffered in the jump, the court document stated. Shortly after being discharged from the hospital, Bell was arraigned on Dec. 30 before District Judge Aaron Biichle on felony charges of escape and flight to avoid apprehension stemming from his break for freedom on the afternoon of Dec. 19, when he allegedly jumped out of the vehicle in the 200 block of Market Street in the city. He was being returned to the pre-release center after a hearing in the courthouse. On these felony charges, he was jailed in lieu of $50,000 bail. He has been an inmate since late September when he was incarcerated on violating a protection from abuse order.

On Friday morning, he was arraigned before District Judge William Solomon on a felony charge of flight to avoid apprehension and a misdemeanor charge of evading arrest. These offenses stem from his trying to authorities at the motel. He was recommitted in lieu of an additional $100,000 bail.