CHILDERSBURG – The Alabama Department of Corrections is reporting the escape of two inmates from the Childersburg Work Release Center that happened Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Talladega County.

Mark Araujo Jr. and Jacob Burnett, both 39, escaped from the center at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Araujo is 6 feet tall with brown hair, blue eyes and weighs 180 pounds. Burnett is 5 feet 9 inches tall with red hair, green eyes and weighs 190 pounds. Both men were last seen wearing dark shirts and brown pants.

After the escape, a video taken at a Citgo service station in Calera on U.S. Highway 31 shows Araujo and Burnett in a stolen white utility truck and making a purchase inside the business at 8:53 p.m. Tuesday.

The Alabama Department of Corrections Investigations and Intelligence Division is working with all levels of law enforcement, to include the U.S. Marshals Service, in finding and apprehending the inmates.

Araujo is serving a 15-year sentence for a 2016 first-degree theft of property conviction in Walker County. Burnett was sentenced to 18 months in July 2018 for third-degree burglary in Shelby County. Araujo had a parole hearing date set for September 2019 and Burnett would have reached his end-of-sentence in December 2019.  Both men will now face charges for the escape and other offenses.

The public should not approach the inmates but should contact local law enforcement or the Alabama Department of Corrections at 1-800-831-8825 with information that may lead to the inmates’ recapture.