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An inmate in South Carolina was just captured 40 years after he escaped from a work crew

A prison inmate who escaped from a South Carolina work crew in 1979 was captured in Delaware on New Year’s Day, according to the department.

Jose Chico Romero, 64, had been living under an assumed name when he was arrested December 28 after showing Dover police a fake ID, according to Chrysti Shain, director of communications for the South Carolina Department of Corrections. Police processed and released him under the name Arnaldo Figueroa, but his fingerprints came back as a match for Romero. He was arrested Wednesday.

He is being held in Georgetown, Delaware, on a fugitive warrant and has waived extradition, Shain said. He is also charged with public intoxication, loitering, trespassing, forgery, criminal impersonation and being an out-of-state fugitive.

The Delaware Attorney General’s office tells CNN that no defense attorney is listed for Romero in court records.

Romero was serving 18 years for armed robbery when he escaped in Anderson County, South Carolina, on December 13, 1979, Shain said.

After he is returned to South Carolina, Romero will have to serve the rest of his original sentence, about seven years, plus any time added for an escape conviction, Shain said.

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