VALDOSTA — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation wants the public’s help in locating an inmate who escaped from a South Georgia jail 16 years ago.

George Robert Sparks, now 73, was an Echols County inmate being held in the Clinch County jail when he and two other inmates escaped Jan. 27, 2002, according to a GBI statement.

The men escaped through a 12-foot square emergency light in the men’s bathroom, breaking the light and climbing through, according to a Valdosta Daily Times story at the time of the escape.

At the time he was in jail, he faced charges in Echols County of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes, while charges in Clinch County of escape and criminal interference with government property were added later, according to the GBI.

Sparks has not been seen in 16 years, but had contacts in Lake Park, Statenville and Madison, Fla., according to the statement. He likes to camp and could be living in a campground or RV, and has been known to sell knives, fishing equipment and other items at flea markets, the GBI said.

He was described at the time of the escape as a white male with brown eyes and brown hair which may have thinned, five feet nine inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He has a scar on his right knee, the GBI said.

Anyone with information about Sparks is asked to call the GBI’s Thomasville office at (229) 225-4090 or the Echols County Sheriff’s Office at (229) 559-5603.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.