ANSONIA, Conn. - Ansonia police were searching Wednesday for a 450-pound woman who, despite confinement in leg shackles, escaped custody.

Teryl Edwards, 29, was arrested by police in her Ansonia apartment Friday night. She was accused of stealing clothes at a Derby department store where she worked.

Edwards is considered dangerous because she will “fight with police,'’ said Lt. Michael Abbels.

She resisted arrest by throwing items and scuffling with police officers who sustained minor bruises and scrapes, Abbels said.

Once in custody, Edwards complained about not feeling well and was taken to Griffin Hospital in Derby at 10:30 p.m. in handcuffs and leg shackles.

An officer guarded Edwards, whose handcuffs were removed, as she was having X-rays taken. Abbels said she apparently slipped out the back door.

Edwards, who is black and is 5 feet 11 inches, was last seen wearing a white shirt, black pants and the shackles.

She is wanted on charges of larceny, escape from custody, assault on a police officer and interfering with a police officer.

Police were searching for her in Derby, New Haven and Waterbury where she has ties to friends and family, Abbels said.

MIAMI, Okla. - A Missouri man says he’s Jesus Christ but authorities accuse him of being a Robin Hood.

Miami police stopped Jahew Michael Witcher, of Squires, Mo., for driving erratically and for making dance movements while behind the wheel on Friday said Todd Chenoweth, a Miami police detective.

It wasn’t until after his arrest, that Witcher, 35, told officers he was the Messiah, and police learned he was wanted for questioning in two robberies in Springfield, Mo.

A criminal complaint filed Friday in Springfield federal court accused Witcher in one of the two robberies. No charges have been filed in the other one.

Miami police began pursuing Witcher after a man tried to take two cars belonging to customers of a Miami beauty salon. The man left the salon when the owner refused to give him the car keys, Chenoweth said.

Officers noticed Witcher’s gray pickup truck from a description given by the salon owner. Its driver was making wild dancing movements, wiggling his body and arms, crossing the center line and jumping around in his seat, Chenoweth said.

When Miami patrolman Troy Fugate asked Witcher for identification during questioning, Witcher told him “he was the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and had come back to end the world,'’ Chenowith said.

Officers arrested Witcher on suspicion of driving under the influence of intoxicants and took him to a local emergency room for a medical exam. There, he told medical personnel he had “snorted some methamphetamine'’ that morning, Chenoweth said.

The FBI wanted to talk to Witcher because a man matching his description and driving a similar gray truck walked into two Springfield banks, asked for cash and said, “God bless you'’ and “God loves you'’ before leaving.

Later that day, a man matching Witcher’s description walked into a Springfield gasoline service station, his clothes stuffed with money, witnesses told police. The man gave a customer three $20 bills, saying he’d recently won the lottery, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

Law officers in Douglas County, Mo. received reports last week of a man fitting Witcher’s description handing out money in a bar in Ava, Mo.

“On three or four occasions, he was seen passing money out at ‘The Cave.’ He would give out $20 or $30 to a couple of people, then he started handing out a couple hundred dollars,'’ Douglas County Sheriff Koop said.

Witcher also is a suspect in holdups at two St. Louis banks, the FBI said.

Ottawa County prosecutors dropped the driving charges against Witcher so the FBI could take him to Springfield to face possiblebank robbery charges.

SAN JOSE - An inmate at Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas broke out of a medium-security dorm at dawn last week, officials said, only to hop the wrong fence and end up next door at the women’s jail.

Officials said Arnold Ancheta, 25, apparently stood atop a bunk bed and punched holes in the wall to use as steps toward a skylight that he would eventually climb out of.

Without revealing a how-to, authorities said Ancheta used a bed sheet and a mop handle to pry apart two of several bars that blocked the roof opening. He squeezed through the bars, balanced himself on top of them and broke out the plexiglass-covered skylight.

He jumped down about 20 feet from the roof. However, instead of heading toward the fence that leads to a public road, he jumped a smaller fence and ended up on the women’s side of the facility, according to Mark Cursi, a Department of Corrections spokesman. The female inmates saw the man running around the yard and told correctional officers.

Ancheta was found hunkered down in bushes, scraped and slightly bloody, officers said. They took him to a hospital, where he seemed to be in good condition, officials said.

Officials took then Ancheta to the main jail in downtown San Jose and began retrofitting the dorm to prevent a repeat.

DECATUR, Ga. - Alexandria Moore of Lithonia says her first driving experience may be her last.

“I probably won’t get into another car for the rest of my life,'’ the 15-year-old said Tuesday after damaging seven vehicles in a parking lot.

Her mother, Betty Moore, had dashed inside to pay a water bill. Tempted by the keys in the ignition, Alexandria decided to move the car. She revved the engine and jammed it into gear.

The car jumped a curb, sideswiped a vehicle and slammed into a Lexus, which careened into another car. Alexandria then put her mom’s car into reverse, scraped a concrete pole and backed into a sport utility vehicle, which hit another car. Overall, seven cars were damaged; two had to be towed away.

Alexandria was charged with reckless driving.

“She was moving at a pretty good clip to cause a parked car to go into another car,'’ police Sgt. M. Matics said.

GREENSBORO, N.C. - State troopers plan to give away a thousand boxes of frozen spinach they say was confiscated from a trucker who used it as a decoy to hide his marijuana haul.

“If you’re a spinach lover, you’ll be in heaven,'’ Sgt. Tom Hurley said. “Popeye would love this deal.'’

A trooper made the discovery after a routine traffic stop Saturday on Interstate 85. The truck driver, Steve Marsh, 36, of Miami, gave the officer permission to check inside his tractor trailer.

It took the trooper about five minutes to find the stash, estimated at around $1 million. It was well-packed under the large boxes of frozen spinach.

Troopers believe the pot was headed toward Washington, D.C., from Miami. Marsh, who faces two counts of drug trafficking, wasbeing held on $90,000 bond in the Guilford County jail.

The spinach will be given away free Tuesday at the Highway Patrol Headquarters in Greensboro.

ALBUQUERQUE - Police say a wallet and an identification card left in a westside fast food restaurant made it easier for them to find a man accused of robbing the place.

“Just makes the job a little easier,'’ Detective Greg Callaghan said.

James Scroggins, 39, has been arrested by Albuquerque police in connection with Friday night’s robbery, Sgt. Brian McCutcheon said.

The man had placed an order at a Subway sandwich shop. While a worker made his sandwich, the man pulled out his wallet and asked the clerk to change a $20 bill, Callaghan said.

When the clerk opened the cash register, the man told the employee, “I have a gun, give me some money,'’ he said.

He took the cash and fled, he said.

However, in the course of asking for the change, the man set his wallet on the counter and left it there, Callaghan said.

“It was just a stupid thing to do,'’ he said.

The wallet contained a New Mexico identification card. Subway employees confirmed the man on the ID was the man they saw, the detective said.

Stoney Creek, NC — It’s probably not a good idea to rob a convenience store next to the sheriff’s department.

But somebody forgot to tell Robert Brennan Graham. His inattention to that small detail allowed Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes’ staff to quickly make an arrest in the Wednesday morning robbery of the Citgo at 6305 Burlington Road, the sheriff said.

“This is a prime example of the need for a good education,” Barnes said. “Obvioiusly, this criminal could not read.”

A sheriff’s department district office and the Citgo are both in the Stoney Creek Shopping Center. The law-enforcement center is clearly marked by road signs, a well-lit overhead sign and a replica sheriff’s badge on the door.

Graham, 19, of 598 Sycamore Drive in Bennettsville, S.C., is accused of entering the Citgo about 5:45 am with a sawed-off shotgun and demanding money, Barnes said.

The suspect got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and drove a red pickup behind the shopping center. At the same time, Sgt. R. Elliot was heading out the back door toward his cruiser. A call to 911 had alerted him to look for - surprise - a red pickup.

Elliot followed Graham 1.5 miles south at normal speeds and placed him under arrest. Backup arrived quickly. Afterall, it was about time for a shift change and more deputies were around.

“The men and women of this department work hard,” Barnes said. “They deserve an easy one every now and then.”

Story by Amy Wolfford of the News and Record