WHITE PLAINS, New York: The Westchester County Jail went into lockdown on Halloween night when a former inmate dressed up in a prisoner's orange jumpsuit with his child and officials feared he might be an escapee.

"Bad choice of costume," said Susan Tolchin, chief adviser to County Executive Andrew Spano.

The former inmate, Oscar Aponte, 32, was going house-to-house with his daughter in the town of Peekskill on Tuesday night when a county correction officer — also out trick-or-treating with her child — spotted the familiar jumpsuit, Tolchin said.

"She confronted him, and he ran and drove off," Tolchin said. The officer took down the man's license plate and called Peekskill police and the Corrections Department.

The jail in Valhalla went into lockdown with prisoners confined to their cells until a prisoner count established that no one was missing. Meanwhile, Peekskill police and the county's Special Investigation Unit found Aponte, confiscated the genuine jumpsuit and let him go.

Aponte was arrested and charged Wednesday with petty larceny and possession of stolen property, Tolchin said. She said prisoners are not permitted to take their jumpsuits home when they are released.

"They get their possessions in a clear plastic bag, so it's hard to see how he got a jumpsuit out, if he did," she said.

There was no telephone listing at Aponte's address.

Aponte had been in the jail from May to September 2006. He had been sentenced to probation in January for driving while intoxicated but was imprisoned for a probation violation after he was found drinking in a bar, Tolchin said.

In the U.S., children celebrate the Halloween holiday by trick-or-treating, going door to door in costume asking for candy or other treats.



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