What Cobb County authorities are accusing James Michael Travers III of makes one thing clear: He’s a gambling man.
According to deputies, Travers didn’t come back from his work release program, bought an airplane ticket for Las Vegas and made it all the way to his gate before he was arrested.
Travers faces a felony of escaping confinement and misdemeanor counts from allegedly causing a crash.
Glenn Daniel — spokesman for the Cobb sheriff’s office, which runs the jail — said the work release program lets inmates at minimum-security facilities leave for eight hours of a job or school. Inmates must pass a background check to be eligible.
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On his ninth day of the program, Travers didn’t come back.
According to a warrant, Travers got into a shouting match with his co-workers and was dismissed from his Marietta Square restaurant shift four hours early Saturday.
Cops said he then ran a red light and hit another vehicle before walking off. A Marietta cop called and told him to come back, but he lied and said he was in an ambulance before ending the call, according to a warrant.
He used a ride-sharing app to go to his Johns Creek home, bought the ticket to Vegas and headed to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Deputies tracked him down and arrested him at the gate of his flight, according to the warrant.
Travers had been in jail for violating the probation of drunken driving and reckless conduct charges. He was given a year of probation on Jan. 12 for those charges, according to state court records. He has been in jail since April 26.
His next court date was not immediately available in online magistrate court records.
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