The Associated Press

OWENSBORO, Ky. - A man arrested in western Kentucky was charged with a string of crimes that began the same day he was released early from jail by order of Gov. Paul Patton.

Gregory Dale Hiner, 25, was among nearly 900 inmates across the state who were released early because of a budgetary shortfall.

Hiner was charged Monday in a two-state crime spree that involved four stolen vehicles and three armed robberies.

He is the second inmate released early from jail under the cost-cutting measure to be charged with robbing an Owensboro-area bank within days after being freed. Other inmates who were released early have been charged with rape and kidnapping.

Hiner had been serving time in the Daviess County Detention Center on a felony conviction of receiving stolen property. He was scheduled to be released Feb. 14, before the early release knocked about a month off his sentence.

Police say Hiner is suspected of stealing a car within hours of his release Jan. 17.

He was apprehended Saturday when police in Ohio County stopped him in what they said was a stolen Lincoln Navigator. Hiner was charged with three counts of first-degree robbery, four counts of theft of property valued over $300, receiving stolen property valued over $300 and two misdemeanor charges.

Police said one of the stolen cars was used as a getaway car in a Feb. 11 robbery of a convenience store. The store's clerk suffered a heart attack immediately after the robbery, underwent heart bypass surgery and remained in the hospital for more than two weeks.

That car was later found abandoned in Noble County, Ind., where the Lincoln sport-utility vehicle was stolen. It was driven back to Daviess County and thought to have been used in a Feb. 16 robbery of the same convenience store.

Another stolen car was used in a Feb. 21 robbery of First Security Bank and Trust in Utica.

In all three robberies, witnesses reported a man in a black jacket with a partially concealed face who brandished a gun.

After Hiner was stopped by police in Beaver Dam on Saturday, police said a search of the vehicle he was driving revealed car keys for the other cars that were stolen. Police also recovered clothing used in the robberies and shoes that matched footprints left at the scene.