FARMVILLE (AP) – A violent felon who was accidently freed from a regional jail in Farmville is the focus of a manhunt.

The Progress-Index of Petersburg reports that 31-year-old Carter Sherrod Tillery was serving a 30-year federal sentence in a high-security federal prison in West Virginia for robbing a Petersburg merchant with a sawed-off shotgun in 2009.

Tillery was transferred to the Piedmont Regional Jail in Farmville to appear in Virginia on weapons and assault charges. But when prosecutors withdrew those charges on May 17, jail officials released Tillery instead of returning him to federal custody in Hazleton, W.Va.

The U.S. Marshals Service issued an alert to local law enforcement agencies in hopes of capturing Tillery. They say he poses a significant risk to the community.

His record includes several violent crimes.