BY MATT HERSH

Just days after Salem police successfully captured two escaped inmates, they nabbed one more.

On Thursday, May 10, police arrested Ronald Lawler, 36, of Haverhill, Mass., who had walked away from his job at the Lawrence Correctional Alternative Center earlier that day. He has been in jail since May 1 on a four-month sentence for violating his parole for assault and battery.

Lawler attempted to steal a $54.99 electric razor from the CVS at 517 S.

Broadway but was thwarted by employees who chased him out of the store. He managed to elude the workers but dropped the razor outside as he fled, police said.

Deputy Police Chief William Ganley said his department was notified by a store manager around 1:50 p.m.

After fleeing CVS, Lawler headed to the town’s human services office on Lawrence Road, where he browsed through bins of free clothing.

Bob Loranger, who heads the human services office, said he saw Lawler looking through the clothes. After he told him to take what he needed, Loranger said Lawler told him he was heading to Bangor, Maine. He left the office with a shirt and baseball cap.

Loranger said he was somewhat suspicious of Lawler, and he continued to watch him as he left. Once he saw Lawler asking people on the street for money, Loranger called the police.

“I just had a feeling (about Lawler) and I was concerned for the people in the neighborhood,” Loranger said. “I didn’t want to take any chances, so I called the police.”

Around the same time, Ganley said police received a similar call.

“Another caller reported a man asking to help her with her groceries in exchange for a shirt,” Ganley said. “Then we dispatched an officer.”

Officer Bob Genest, who was nearby, responded shortly after receiving the call.

He spotted Lawler and questioned him. Genest found an Essex County inmate identification card on Lawler, but Lawler said he had already been released.

“His ID was an inmate card, which is kind of interesting,” Ganley said.

Police arrested Lawler and found that he matched the description of the CVS shoplifter and that of an escaped Massachussetts prisoner.

He is now facing escape and shoplifting charges. He has been moved to a Middleton, Mass., jail.