16 Oct DA & Sheriff Say Delayed Report of Escaped Mental Patient with Violent Criminal History Created “Nightmare Scenario”
IN THE NEWS:
News on 6
The Pryor Information
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Claremore, OKLA, Oct 16, 2025 – A patient with a violent criminal history escaped through a window at GRAND Horizons in Claremore. He was court-ordered to remain in the facility, but his escape wasn’t reported to law enforcement for about 14 hours.
Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton and District Attorney Matt Ballard held a media conference to discuss the danger this posed to the community. Ballard described it as “a nightmare scenario”.
Once notified, the Sheriff’s department launched a search and made a social media post warning people that 43-year-old Beaux Jones, who has a violent criminal history, was at large in the community. Walton says the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health responded by making claims that the post somehow violated Jones’ HIPAA rights. HIPAA aims to protect patients’ sensitive health information.
DA Ballard says law enforcement did the right thing by warning people that a dangerous individual was loose in the area. He further revealed that there is no HIPAA violation because the Sheriff’s department was not providing treatment. Ballard explained, “This is about public safety. It’s about knowing when somebody has walked away from a facility they were ordered by the court to be at due to a violent criminal history.”
Once the sheriff’s office was given a heads-up about the situation, it took several hours to locate the escapee, take him back into custody, and place him in a mental health facility in Pryor, which Walton says has higher security.
Walton says, “I think there should be some mandates when we are putting dangerous people in our community to at least give law enforcement a heads-up.”
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