SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – An inmate who led authorities on an eight-day manhunt after escaping from an Orange County jail got his trial on kidnapping and torture charges delayed Tuesday as his lawyer raised concerns about his ability to find an unbiased jury to hear the case. The inmates Bac Duong, Nayeri, and Jonathan Tieu, escaped on January 22 from Central Men’s Jail in Orange County.
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When Nayeri and Tieu left the hotel to get the stolen van’s windows tinted, Duong reportedly took the cab driver back to Rosemead before turning himself into police in Santa Ana.
Hallock said the three men drove with the taxi driver to the San Francisco Bay area, where Nayeri and Duong had a “physical fight” over whether to kill their captive and bury his body.
That night, Duong kidnapped a taxi driver at gunpoint and then stole a van the following day in Los Angeles, authorities said. Nayeri took English-as-a-second-language classes from Ravaghi at the jail, and sheriff’s officials said he developed a close relationship with the teacher.
Loc Ba Nguyen, the alleged outside accomplice who knew Duong, has been charged with felony counts of possession of a weapon in a place of custody, carrying or sending a useful aid to escape from a jail or prison and aiding escape, with a criminal enhancement for being in possession of a risky or deadly weapon. The complaint mentions other items but does not specify what they were. It wasn’t until about 9 p.m. that day that guards realized Hossein Nayeri, 37, Bac Duong, 43, and Jonathan Tieu, 20, were gone. Duong, 43, turned himself in on Friday.
Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeffrey Hallock said that Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu, 20, began plotting their escape in July of 2015. He also mentioned letters that were found between the two appeared to have been written by Nayeri not Ravaghi.
District Attorney Tony Rackaukas says steps have been taken to make sure Ravaghi doesn’t leave the area and said he’s asked investigators to keep digging. He’s due in court February 22.
The sheriff vowed over the weekend to address the security lapses that allowed the escape.
Duong is believed to have taken the white GMC Savana van for a test drive, then stolen it. Investigators had said they believed the three escapees were living out of the vehicle while on the lam. Hallock said all three escapees were spotted Thursday in San Jose, but Duong somehow made his way back to Santa Ana to surrender.
Bac Duong surrendered Friday in Santa Ana just a few miles from Central Men’s Jail.
After dropping Duong off, the cabbie immediately reported what had happened.
Three men who escaped a Southern California jail more than a week ago allegedly held a taxi driver hostage, had haircuts and went shopping at a Target while on the run, officials said on Monday. Duong and the taxi driver return to Southern California, spending the night in Rosemead before heading to Orange County the next morning.
While behind bars, the three were housed together in a large jail module that held 65 other men, about half of whom were in custody for violent felonies.
Mr Rackauckas said there was insufficient evidence at this time to charge 44-year-old Nooshafarin Ravaghi with a crime. They also said she gave Nayeri, a former Marine who grew up in Fresno, a Google Earth map showing an aerial view of the jail complex.
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Police previously said Ms Ravaghi and Nayeri had exchanged letters of a personal nature, though it was not clear if they were romantically involved. The captures over the weekend were the culmination of a week-long search for the inmates, whose elaborate jailbreak raised questions about security measures and the reliability of staff at the men’s jail.
