News-Record.com

When it came to light last week that Sidney Lowe II was not at the Guilford County prison farm, someone posted a comment on my blog hinting that Tolly Carr was.

This didn't make sense to me because Carr, the former WXII news anchor convicted of felony death by motor vehicle after a drunken driving tragedy in Winston-Salem last year, should be in the state prison system.

But when I checked the offender search function at the Department of Correction Web site, I couldn't find him. Then I talked to two different people at DOC, and neither could find a record of any Tolly Carr in the system.

Holy smoke, I thought. I'm on to a story here.

I called Guilford Sheriff BJ Barnes and asked him if he had Tolly Carr out on the farm.

"I don't know," he said. "I'll check and call you back."

I also placed a call to Jim O'Neill, the Forsyth County assistant district attorney who prosecuted Carr's case last year.

Barnes called back almost right away, telling me that Carr was not at the county farm in Gibsonville but at the minimum-security state prison facility in McLeansville.

Understandable confusion.

But odd that DOC didn't have a record.

O'Neill solved the mystery when he called back today.

There is no record of Tolly Carr because ...

his name is Ptolemy Carr.

Wow. Who knew?

Here's his info on the DOC site.

He is indeed at the Guilford Correctional Center near McLeansville, he's had no infractions while in custody, and his projected release date is next May 18.

I'd go by Tolly, too.