Man escapes prison by impersonating his cellmate, who was to be released

A 26-year-old man in Cowlitz County, Washington escaped from prison on Monday by impersonating his cellmate, who was supposed to be released that day. It helped that his cellmate was sound asleep when an official announced that he was free to go. It also helped that the two cellmates looked alike. The sly gentleman, Brian Roman, waltzed out of his cell, collected his cellmate's personal belongings, and forged his cellmate's name on release forms before fleeing. It wasn't until the snoozing cellmate finally woke up and asked when the hell he was getting released that prison officials realized what had happened.

As of Wednesday, Roman is still missing, free as a bird — or escaped jailbird, as it were.

From Newsweek:

According to the sheriff's office, corrections officers conducted the release process with Roman, who received property that belonged to the other inmate, including a wallet, keys, clothes, an ID and a debit card. Roman also forged the inmate's name on release papers, the sheriff's office said.

After Roman was released from jail, corrections officers realized that he was the wrong inmate when the inmate who was impersonated inquired about his own release.

"Local law enforcement agencies were notified and have been searching for Roman. Roman was last seen wearing a blue hoody sweatshirt, a black shirt, gray sweatpants, and brown slippers," the sheriff's office said in the Facebook post.

Following his escape, the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office issued an arrest warrant for Roman on charges of "Escape 2nd Degree, Criminal Impersonation 1st Degree, Forgery, Theft 2nd Degree, and Theft 3rd Degree."

"The Sheriff's Office is asking anyone with information about Roman's location to call 911," the Facebook post said.