On a routine check of a neighborhood early Wednesday morning, Basehor police captured three escaped inmates from a youth home in West Virginia.

After Basehor police checked an area where they heard dogs barking, an officer found three 19-year-old inmates who had escaped from a maximum-security youth home in West Virginia earlier this week.

When officers tried to talk to three men walking on a Basehor street about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, the men took off running, said police chief Lloyd Martley. After chasing them on foot for several blocks, the officers captured them, with help of officers from the Tonganoxie Police Department.

After the men were caught, police identified them as the escaped inmates. They had stolen at least two cars in the two days since their escape, and they had just broken into a nearby church.