Report: Suspects in brutal beating of 71-year-old escaped from Wisconsin prison, went on crime spree

SOUTH FLORIDA - The two suspects involved in the brutal beating of a 71-year-old clerk at a Seffner convenience store were escaped prisoners on a cross-country crime spree before their arrest in South Florida Wednesday, according to a WPLG report. (http://bit.ly/QjDZtZ)

James Newman, 29, and James Mislevick, 19, were inmates in a Wisconsin prison, but the two escaped after transferring to a correctional facility without walls or fences.

The men escaped on July 17 and committed a kidnapping, car jackings and robberies while Wisconsin, police said.

The men held a casino worker in Black River Falls, Wis. against her will after stealing her car and robbing her, the report states.

After five hours, they dumped the worker along with her car and stole another vehicle.

When Newman and Mislevick reached Seffner, they entered US 92 Convenience Store, r obbed 71-year-old Hasimdbhai Indawala , and brutally beat him, kicking him in the head and stomach multiple times. (http://bit.ly/ObfvRE)

The pair was then spotted in Hollywood, Fla. at Seminole Hard Rock casino, and security thought they appeared suspicious.  

The police department was called when security noticed that a dark-colored car with Wisconsin tags belonged to Newman and Mislevick.

A police chase began and the men bailed out of the car at an intersection in Hollywood, Fla. near a local home.

When the homeowner turned on his backyard lights, Misleveck was spotted by police hiding.

Newman was still missing, but he was found shortly after hiding in a tree about a block away.

He was perched 40-feet up in the tree and eventually taken down by A k-9 who grabbed on to his ankle.

Newman, who was already serving time on six felony counts of discharging a firearm, faces new charges of grandtheft, resisting arrest, fleeing and eluding, escaping from prison, and loitering and prowling.

Mislevick, who was serving time for arson, auto-theft and burglary, will be charged with loitering and prowling, and a warrant regarding his escape from prison.

Hillsborough detectives traveled to South Florida Wednesday night to positively identify the suspects as the men seen in surveillance video from the US 92 Convenience Store in Seffner.