The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is looking for a prisoner who was recently freed from the Jefferson County Jail by mistake. The man, who is now a fugitive, was sentenced to 17 years in jail for kidnapping a prominent Birmingham businessman.
The Sheriff’s Office wants the public to assist them in locating 35-year-old Matthew Amos Burke, who was released around 3:30 p.m. Friday. While investigating is currently underway for the circumstances surrounding Burke’s release, the Sheriff’s Office speculates that missing paperwork may have been the cause.
On November 24, Burke was transferred from a neighboring agency to the Jefferson County Jail to appear in court. After a court appearance on Friday, Burke’s state charges were dismissed, according to records. When Burke was being transferred from the neighboring agency, there was no documentation left to notify jail personnel that he had been sentenced by a federal court and was not supposed to walk free.
On November 2, a judge sentenced Burke to 17 years in prison for multiple crimes, including “kidnapping, bank fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama. Burke pleaded guilty to all the charges in April.
According to court documents, Burke illegally entered the victim’s home on September 11, 2020. Burke then abducted the victim and drove him to his residence, where he forcefully directed the victim to transfer a sum of $250,000 from his bank account into another bank account. Once the cash was transferred, Burke drove the victim back to his residence and released him. The victim then contacted the Birmingham Police Department and the Mountain Brook Police Department.
Local news outlets had identified the victim as Birmingham businessman Elton B. Stephens.
As described by the police, Burke is about 5’7″ tall, 170 lbs. with brown hair and blue eyes. He has connections to the Fultondale, Tarrant, and Remlap communities. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to inform the cops by calling 911.
