A probe also was underway into how the men escaped, authorities said, noting that so far there’s no indication the inmates received help from anyone inside the Orange County Men’s Central Jail.
Advertisement
They managed to mangle barbed wire while they were up there on the ledge of the roof and used ropes made of braided bed linens to rappel four stories to the ground.
The search is on in Southern California for three men who escaped from a Santa Ana prison on Friday.
Authorities have focused their search in the county’s sizable Vietnamese-American community, where sheriff’s officials say two of the men have ties to gangs.
The reward will be divided into up to $50,000 increments for information that helps catch either Hossein Nayeri, 37; Jonathan Tieu, 20; and Bac Duong, 43; who authorities last saw during a routine inmate check about 5 a.m. Friday.
For more on the ongoing manhunt, Steve Chiotakis of KCRW in Santa Monica joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson with details. Nayeri was eventually put away in 2014, after authorities chased him all the way to the Czech Republic.
Hallock also said authorities were investigating whether the prisoners had help inside or outside the detention center.
They had last been seen about 15 hours earlier during a morning head count. “We know that somebody out there knows something”.
AP 37-year-old Hossein Nayeri, was arrested in 2014 for kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, then cutting off his penis.
Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock told reporters this afternoon: “We feel very confident that each of the escaped inmates were housed appropriately in a maximum security jail”, but the sheriff has raised concerns about the tracking of the inmates.
Duong was ordered deported to Vietnam in 1998 but remained in the country and racked up a lengthy criminal record, immigration officials said Tuesday.
Duong had held since last month charges with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at an inhabited dwelling and other charges.
Brown went on to criticize the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for being too lax in handling Nayeri after the department was warned about his violent past.
In 2008, Vietnam agreed to provide travel documents for deportees, but only those who entered the US since July 1995, eaning it didn’t apply to Duong.
The sheriff’s department has been slow to add more rooftop security cameras at the jail despite a grand jury’s recommendations for eight years straight, according to a report in the Orange County Register.
AGUILAR: Yeah. It did take jail deputies about 16 hours to even confirm the inmates were missing Friday, so that’s plenty of time to drive down to Mexico.
“As we stated, we have parallel investigations that are occurring, and the preliminary investigation into the escape and how it occurred has caused the sheriff concerns as to some of the jail inmate count practices and how they were conducted”, Hallock said.
Thirty-seven-year-old Nayeri, who has ties to Iran, is charged with kidnapping and torture.
There are two daily physical checks, meaning when guards account for every individual in person by using photos to check on inmates.
Bounty hunter Zeke Unger said he believes that at some point, the fugitives may have to commit crimes – “a carjacking, a home invasion, a robbery – some way that they can gain income in order to keep on the move”.
Advertisement
It was the first escape in almost three decades from the California facility built in 1968. The jail holds 900 men and is located in Santa Ana, Calif., about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. More involved searches are done randomly, he said, but declined to be more specific.
