Officials seek the public's help in locating a Jersey City man who was serving a four-year prison term and had only eight days to go before being paroled when he reportedly escaped from a Newark halfway house on Dec. 15, officials said.

Jabar Ford, 29, of Kennedy Boulevard, began serving his prison term on May 29, 2009 after convictions for resisting/eluding police, resisting/eluding police in a motor vehicle and drug possession with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a school, corrections records say.

The most recent crimes were committed in 2005, when Ford's vehicle nearly collided with a police car in Greenville after running a stop sign, according to officials. He then led police on a high-speed chase while throwing drugs out his car window, officials said.

In 2000, Ford robbed a man at gunpoint in the Heights and was sentenced to seven years in prison, officials said, adding that he has additional convictions, including two counts of aggravated assault.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said Ford had been scheduled to be paroled Dec. 23.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Department of Corrections, Special Investigation Unit, at (800) 523-3829.