DRACUT — A prisoner who made a stunning escape from guards at Salem Superior Court was arrested last night in Dracut after almost two days on the run.
Miguel Angel Caraballo, 37, of Lawrence who is facing 20 years in prison for a violent Haverhill home invasion and kidnapping, was found outside a home in Dracut at about 10:45 p.m. and arrested after a short foot chase.
"Nobody was hurt and I don't believe there was any confrontation with police," said Paul Fleming, spokesman for Essex County sheriff's department.
Fleming said police tracked him down at a single-family home on Stanton Street.
Dracut police said Caraballo was dressed in street clothes and not the prisoner's outfit he was wearing when he escaped.
There were people inside the house at the time of his capture. He was booked at the Dracut police station, then handed over to Essex sheriff's authorities for his return to the County Jail in Middleton.
"He tried to run off. There was a brief chase. Some of the officers who made the arrest got some mud on their feet. Mr. Caraballo should not be glamorized and he's rightfully back behind bars," Fleming said.
Caraballo had been shackled at Salem Superior Court on Wednesday morning, but somehow broke free and ran to a waiting car just outside. The getaway car, which had been stolen, was found abandoned two blocks away.
Caraballo escaped just before an appearance in Salem Superior Court on a Haverhill home invasion.
Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins joined Essex sheriff's deputies, Lowell police, Dracut police and officers assigned to a gang and drug task force in making the capture.
The task force operates along the Merrimack Valley, North Shore and New Hampshire.
Caraballo once allegedly boasted that he would never return to prison.
Caraballo faced a 20-year minimum mandatory prison term for a Haverhill home invasion, as well as additional time for a federal probation violation.
An as-yet-unidentified woman was at the wheel of the get-a-way car outside the Salem Courthouse.
Caraballo's escape came just four months after a co-defendant in the home invasion allegedly stole an ambulance while in custody and led police on a wild chase down Route 1A in February.
Caraballo had addresses listed in Lawrence and Lowell and used several aliases, including Romero Angel and Francis Andino. He had been in custody since April after being found in Lowell by a police fugitive task force, and held on $100,000 cash bail and on a federal warrant.
Caraballo is charged with kidnapping, home invasion, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, and larceny of a motor vehicle, all stemming from the Dec. 21 incident on Corliss Hill Road in Haverhill.
Prosecutors say Caraballo and two other men went to the home to steal a safe. Caraballo allegedly pistol-whipped a houseguest, demanding to know where to find the safe.
