A Pocopson Township man who spotted an escaped inmate in May is frustrated by the ongoing hunt for Cavalcante
John Cleare said he and his wife saw Igor Bolte walk through their property on May 19 after he fled from the Chester County Prison. Danelo Cavalcante used the same method as Bolte to escape last week.
May 19 started out as a normal morning in the Chester County home of James and Jenna Cleare. Then an escaped inmate walked through their backyard.
Igor Bolte, 30, used a walking trail behind the Cleares’ home in Pocopson Township as part of his escape route from the Chester County Prison, about a half-mile away. He was taken into custody minutes later, thanks in part to the couple, who called police and prison officials immediately after spotting Bolte.
The sighting unnerved them, James Cleare said in an interview Thursday, but they tried to put it out of their minds. Then a second, much more dangerous inmate, convicted murderer Danelo Cavalcante, escaped last week using the exact same method as Bolte: shimmying up to the facility’s roof using a narrow wall in an exercise yard.
Unlike Bolte, Cavalcante travelled in the opposite direction after he escaped, heading away from the Cleares’ neighborhood along Pocopson Road.
Still, Cleare and his wife say they are exhausted by worry, tired of tracking overhead helicopters and listening to police scanners as the hunt for Cavalcante enters its eighth day.
» LIVE UPDATES: Latest on the search for Danelo Cavalcante
“It’s a slap in the face, and it feels like it’s up to us to decide to move from the place where another guy could hop a fence and be in our backyard, in eyeline of our daughter,” Cleare, 40, said. “I respect law enforcement like anyone else, but with every press conference it’s just ‘Keep your eyes peeled,’ never mind that [Cavalcante] is getting more desperate.”
Cleare said he and his wife weren’t notified by the prison that Bolte escaped in May until they came face-to-face with him on their property. In fact, Cleare said they didn’t learn Bolte’s identity until Tuesday, when The Inquirer published a story detailing the identical method that Bolte and Cavalcante used to flee the prison.
» READ MORE: Chester County Prison fugitive escaped using similar method as an inmate who fled in May, source says
“Even when the flaw was exposed, that you could Spider-Man your way up the wall, they just put up some razor wire and said ‘We fixed it,’” Cleare said. “That’s insulting to me and my neighbors. That’s the Band-Aid version of fixing it. That clearly isn’t working.”
Acting Warden Howard Holland declined to answer specific questions about Cavalcante’s escape at a news conference Wednesday, citing a criminal investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office.
In May, Cleare’s wife initially thought Bolte was a landscaper hired by one of her neighbors. The couple’s 2-year-old daughter even waved at him as he strode by. Then Jenna Cleare looked more closely and noticed that the man walking behind their house was wearing bright-orange pants imprinted with an inmate number.
Alarmed, she quickly alerted her husband, who called the prison. When he did so, Cleare said, a guard sounded almost annoyed, telling him they were aware of the break-out and would take Bolte back into custody.
Bolte was apprehended a short time later after jumping into a pool at a house across the street from the Cleares’, according to court filings.
Cleare said he didn’t hear any external alarms about that escape, but did receive a public alert when Cavalcante broke out of the facility.
The incident that has thrust his usually quiet corner of Chester County into an international spotlight has him and his wife considering how long they want to remain in their home. Cleare said he bought the house in 2020 from his sister, who assured him that the county prison was relatively quiet and safe, housing mostly low-level inmates awaiting trial.
Cleare said he and his wife are postponing a decision about whether to move until after Cavalcante is caught. They want assurances that county officials will work to better secure the prison and improve safety in their neighborhood in the aftermath of his escape.
“If that doesn’t happen, we have to consider moving,” Cleare said. “But we can’t imagine that being the case; my wife keeps using the phrase ‘lightning striking twice.’”
“We’ve seen it strike twice, and it’s hard to imagine it striking a third time.”