DURANT — A former Bryan County Jailer accused of providing a handcuff key to a prisoner who used it to escape will be spending time on the other side of the bars.

Anthony Michael Groff, 19, Durant, was sentenced to five years for providing a prisoner a useful aid to escape. Two years of the sentence were suspended.

Groff entered a blind plea of no contest to the charge last month, meaning no plea bargain was reached. He was formally sentenced by District Judge Mark Campbell on Wednesday.

A pre-sentence report recommended that Groff receive probation.

Groff was accused of providing a handcuff key to inmate Billy Joe Wallace, 18. According to the sheriff’s office, Wallace used the key on May 27 to unlock his handcuffs and leg irons while being led back from a court appearance.

Wallace was chained to other inmates at the time and, after fleeing on foot, he commandeered a getaway car that had been brought to the alley behind the First Christian Church, according to an affidavit.

Authorities said the woman who brought the car was not aware of the escape plans, so she was not charged. Wallace then drove to the Taco Casa parking lot and picked up Jessica Dawn Miller, 19, and a juvenile.

A chase began on Highway 78 and authorities said that when Wallace saw Calera Police at Chuck’s Corner, he turned around and drove back toward Durant. A sheriff’s deputy used road spikes to deflate the car’s front tires and the chase ended with a crash near Northeast Third Avenue.

Police pounced on Wallace after he got out of the car. Authorities said he was back in custody less than 20 minutes after the escape.

Miller, identified as his girlfriend, was charged with assisting an escape because she placed a “decoy” 911 call to try to divert deputies to the Mead area, according to an affidavit. Authorities said the decoy call was not successful.

She is scheduled for a formal arraignment Oct. 20.

Investigators questioned Groff, and he admitted to agreeing to give the key to Wallace in exchange for $100, although he claimed he was never paid, according to the sheriff’s office.

Authorities said Wallace escaped two times. On May 4, he fled from the emergency room where he had been taken after he hit his head. He was on the run for approximately 32 hours and was arrested at Stone Creek Baptist Church.

Wallace recently pleaded to two charges of escape and first-degree robbery, the crime he was being held for at the time of the escapes. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison with the last 10 years suspended.

Groff remains in an out-of-county jail, pending transfer to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.