HURON - A Kansas man accused of breaking out of a jail in South Dakota's Beadle County in January has pleaded not guilty.

KOKK radio reports that 45-year-old Charles Beeney entered his pleas this week to assault, grand theft and escape charges. He is being held in the State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

Authorities say Beeney escaped from the county jail in Huron on Jan. 8 after accosting a guard with a makeshift weapon. He was captured later the same day in Sioux Falls after allegedly stealing a pickup truck.

Beeney has a criminal history in Kansas and North Dakota, including an escape from a county jail in North Dakota in 2005 and an attempted escape from the State Penitentiary in that state in 2010.

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