DALTON, Ga. — A man who escaped from a prison work detail in Whitfield County 14 years ago was allowed to walk away again on Wednesday after being released from jail without having to put up a cash or property bond.

Charles Perry Armstrong escaped from a prison detail working in Whitfield County in 2002. Since then he has served time in prison for other offenses. He was taken into custody on Monday in Cobb County and returned to Whitfield County on Tuesday.

An official with Magistrate Court confirmed Armstrong was released on an OR bond — on his own recognizance — at a first appearance hearing on Wednesday by Senior Magistrate Judge Haynes Townsend on the recommendation of the District Attorney’s Office.

The reason for the lack of a true bond, said District Attorney Bert Poston, is that the statute of limitations on the escape charge has expired, making prosecution impossible and meaning the charge will be dismissed.

According to Capt. Rick Swiney with the sheriff’s office, in 2002 Armstrong was part of a Georgia Department of Corrections prison work detail that was helping with construction of what would later become a regional law enforcement training center off Brickyard Road. Swiney said Armstrong walked off the detail on April 9 and never returned.

At the time of his escape, Armstrong was serving a sentence on various drug and drug-related charges in Cherokee County in north metro Atlanta, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections database. Since his escape, he was sentenced to a total of 20 years on a firearms charge and a marijuana distribution charge in Fannin County dating from August 2002. According to the database, he was released from prison in 2007. He recently received a speeding ticket in Cobb County, where officials found the old warrant for the escape and brought Armstrong to Whitfield County.

“After he was sentenced in Fannin County, I don’t know why the case wasn’t brought back to Whitfield County at that time,” Poston said. “He probably would have been sentenced to serve the time concurrent with the Fannin County charges and this would have all been put behind him.”

Since Armstrong is under the supervision of state parole, he is subject to strict monitoring conditions, Poston said, and he had not run afoul of the law since his release in 2007 until the speeding charge.