HARDINSBURG, Ky. (WKYT) - Police across Kentucky are on the lookout for a jail escapee.

According to Breckinridge County Sheriff Todd Pate, Robert Waddell stole a jail transport van around 11:30 Thursday night in Hardinsburg.

Sheriff Pate says Waddell had originally complained of chest pains. A deputy sheriff transported him to the hospital to get the chest pains checked out. Sheriff Pate says when the two were leaving the hospital, Waddell stuck a sharp object into the deputy jailer's side, and got him to turn over the keys to the van and the keys to his handcuffs. Sheriff Pate says Waddell also had the deputy jailer remove his boots, and give them to Waddell.

Sheriff Pate says Waddell dropped the deputy jailer off about ten miles down the road from the hospital. He was not hurt.

According to the jail there, Waddell was being held on burglary, assault and rape charges. The sheriff says Waddell should be considered armed and dangerous.

Deputies were able to recover the van on Highway 629 inside county limits Friday morning. They believe Waddell is hiding nearby. They also think he could be hiding out in Ohio County, which borders Breckinridge.

"It's a remote, rural area where he's at. There's corn fields, there's barns, there's machinery sheds and all kinds of places that one could lay down and hide," explains Sheriff Pate.

Authorities believe he's still wearing his orange jumpsuit. A witness told deputies he saw Waddell around the area where the van was found wearing his orange jumpsuit pants and a white t-shirt.