A boastful Lake County Jail escapee who flew the coop Sunday was arrested Thursday at, of all places, a Hooters restaurant in Merrillville, county police said.

Hooters staff called Merrillville police after inmate Charles S. Smith, 56, was bragging about walking away from the County Jail, police said.

Smith, who is now charged with felony escape on top of his original public intoxication charge, is back behind bars on a $20,000 bond.

Jail officials didn't know Smith was gone Sunday until someone from The Hen, a local grocery shop just south of the jail, reported to Crown Point police seeing a man wearing an orange jail shirt and tan pants outside the store.

That was about 9 p.m.

Crown Point police called jail officials asking if they were missing someone. Corrections Officer Benny Hill said not that he knew, but he put the jail on lockdown.

That's when he discovered Smith, who'd been entrusted to take out dinner garbage about 6 p.m., never came back.

Lake County and Crown Point police canvassed local bars, showing patrons Smith's picture. Someone at Diamond Jim's on the courthouse square said Smith was there about 10:15 p.m. By that time, Smith had changed clothes and was wearing a tie-dyed T-shirt and a bandana.

By the time police arrived, Smith was long gone.