NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- A manhunt was under way across the Bay State on Wednesday for an accused child rapist who escaped from custody.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that Anthony Flye, 38, escaped while in custody at St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford on Tuesday.

VIDEO: Police Search For Suspect

"Desperate people do desperate things, and this individual is desperate in trying to avoid the law and avoid justice," Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson said.

Hodgson said that Flye was being walked from the courtroom to a lockup at the New Bedford Superior Court at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday when he broke away from two court officers and jumped headfirst over a stairway banister.

He was transported by ambulance to St. Luke's Hospital by court officer David Jackson. But at about 3 p.m. while waiting for an MRI, Hodgson said that Jackson removed Flye's handcuffs so that he could use the phone to call his girlfriend. He was then allowed to go into a bathroom that had a second door while being unsupervised. That is when officials said he made his getaway.

Minutes later, a New Bedford police officer said that he saw Flye in jeans, a hospital gown and paper slippers, but it wasn’t until two hours later when sheriff's deputies arrived at the hospital to relieve Jackson that the department learned of Flye's escape.

"This is very frustrating, I think, for us and the court officers as well, because no one wants to lose a prisoner, but importantly as we go forth, we have to look at what went wrong here that put the public at risk," Hodgson said.

Flye is 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. He was being held at the Bristol County House of Correction on $500,000 bail. Child rape, indecent assault and battery of a disabled person, indecent exposure and incest are among the charges he faces.

Anyone with information was asked to call the Bristol County Sheriff's Office at 508-995-6400.