1 of 3 Escaped Inmates Caught

Bac Duong was still in Santa Ana
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 29, 2016 2:51 PM CST
1 of 3 Escaped Inmates Caught
This image provided by the Orange County, Calif., Sheriff's Department on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, shows three jail inmates charged with violent crimes who escaped from the Central Men's Jail in Santa Ana, Calif.   (Orange County Sheriff's Department via AP)

Police captured one of three fugitive inmates on Friday after they escaped a week ago from a California jail while facing charges involving violent crimes, the AP reports. Bac Duong, 43, was arrested by police in Santa Ana, the same city where the trio made their elaborate escape from the Orange County jail, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said. Duong, Jonathan Tieu, 20, and Hossein Nayeri, 37, had all been awaiting trial for unrelated violent crimes. They were held in a dormitory with about 65 other men in Santa Ana, about 30 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The men escaped early Jan. 22 after cutting a hole in a metal grate then crawling through plumbing tunnels and onto the roof of a five-story jail building. They pushed aside barbed wire and rappelled down using a rope made of bed sheets.

It took jail staff 16 hours to realize the three men were missing because an assault on a guard delayed an evening head count. The escape raised questions about security at the jail in suburban Orange County. It was the first escape in nearly three decades from the California facility, which was built in 1968 and holds 900 men. Authorities say Duong had been held without bond since last month on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and other charges in a gang shooting. Immigration authorities and records indicate he had been ordered deported to Vietnam in 1998 but remained in the country and racked up a lengthy rap sheet. Authorities say Duong stole a van the day after the escape after taking it for a test drive in the only reported sighting of the men since the breakout. (Police say a jail English teacher helped the inmates.)

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