MOUNT CLEMENS , Mich., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A 16-year-old inmate who escaped from a holding cell in the Macomb County Courthouse in Michigan Friday was found an hour later hiding in a judge's car.

After Macomb County Sheriff's deputies combed the downtown area of Mount Clemens for nearly an hour looking for the youth, he was found in the trunk of the Circuit Judge Peter Maceroni's 2002 Lincoln Continental, The Macomb (Mich.) Daily reported Saturday.


The newspaper said a county security officer saw a picture on the ground next to the judge's car and became suspicious.

"I've been around here for the past 18 years and have never locked my car because it's parked in a secured area," the judge was quoted as saying. "I will lock it from now on."

Maceroni said the youth must have entered his car and opened the trunk from an interior button. The judge said he believes the youth would have stayed in the trunk until he left the courthouse.

"When I parked the car he would have kicked in the trunk lid or removed the back seat to get out," Maceroni said. "Now all of the newer cars have an emergency device in the trunk that you can push to open the trunk."