Two Granville men recognized for helping in escapee hunt

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By Dan King

It’s not every day that a member of the Washington County Sheriff’s Department gets called on a manhunt for two escaped murders, but that’s exactly what happened last month when Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.

A captain, five deputies and a canine from the Washington County Sheriff’s Department were sent to help with the manhunt for Sweat and Matt, and the County Board recently recognized them. The team included two Granville High School graduates from the class of 1990, Captain Bryn Reynold and Deputy Tim Carroll.

Sheriff Jeff Murphy said that the Washington County team was the only team to get called up from anywhere in the state.

“I don’t think we need to tell you how dangerous these two guys were,” Murphy said. “Imagine just picking up and leaving and traveling up to the search area and staying in a camp ground.”

While the team was up in the search areas, Murphy said they slept in the woods. He added that the state corrections department offered to house them in a bed and breakfast or a former prison, but that his men turned it down.

“I called them up and I knew what their answer was going to be,” he said.

Murphy said the reason that team was called up is because of the extensive training they do for woodland situations.

“They trained quite a bit and the fact that we were asked to send our guys up there is a feather in our cap so to speak,” Murphy added. “They weren’t just on the outskirts looking around, they were right up front. I can’t say enough of how proud I am of those guys.”

Argyle Supervisor Bob Henke pointed out that, “We’re one of the few departments that does any woodland training at all. The fact that we can handle this in a rural county is very good, I wish more counties would do that.”