Six inmates easily escaped from Merced County Downtown Jail using a “homemade rope to scale down the side of the jail” via the roof.
Merced County Sheriff’s Office said that jail officials found the six inmates missing from their cells just before midnight on Sunday. The fugitives have been described as Hispanic males between the ages of 19 and 22. A task force has been formed to track down and apprehend the escaped inmates.
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke admitted that he has been unable to properly staff the jail for more than a decade.
“Our staffing levels have never been up to par since 2009 in our correctional facilities when the state cut money, and the county also had to cut money,” Warnke said. “So we’ve been having staffing issues for a very long time, and this is no different than anything else.”
According to AWM:
Surveillance footage captured the inmates on camera at 11:30 pm on Saturday night. Authorities suspect that they escaped using their homemade rope shortly after that last sighting. But the staff confirmed that they failed to notice the missing inmates until the following morning at 8 am on Sunday.
“That’s not acceptable on anybody’s watch,” Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke said. “If we’ve got folks that need to be held accountable, we will be holding them accountable; I will not let this ride.”
The inmates escaped from a group housing unit that held nine prisoners. The inmates first evacuated the prison by going to the roof. When they made it to the roof of the corrections complex, they used their homemade rope to descend the twenty feet down the side of the building like rock climbers.
The rope brought them down to an alleyway adjacent to the Sheriff’s Office facility. Although they were probably breathing the same air as the sheriff’s deputies and staff of the jail, the inmates escaped into the night and have not been heard from since.
The police statement provided detailed information, including a picture and charges, for each individual.
The youngest is from Atwater, California, and has been identified as 19-year-old Gabriel Coronado, who is 5 feet, 10 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes.
Coronado was jailed on charges of attempted murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, participation in a criminal street gang, felon in possession of a firearm, and violation of probation.
The second is 20-year-old Jorge Barron, also from Atwater. He was jailed on a violation of probation charge and has been described as being 5 feet, 5 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes.
Andres Nunez Rodriguez Jr., a 21-year-old male from Planada, California, was held on charges of attempted murder, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, participation in a criminal street gang, and felon in possession of a firearm.
The sheriff’s office said Rodriguez Jr. is 5 feet, 7 inches with black hair and brown eyes.
Manuel Leon, 21, of Vallejo, California, is charged with a firearm assault, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, evading a peace officer, reckless driving, participation in a criminal street gang, and carrying a loaded firearm. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall with black hair and brown eyes.
The last two fugitives were identified as 22-year-old Fabian Roman of Los Banos, California, who is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and 22-year-old Edgard Eduardo Ventura of Portland, Oregon, who is 5 feet, 11 inches tall.
Roman was held on charges of murder, while Ventura was being held on charges of felon in possession of a firearm, participation in a criminal street gang, and violation of probation, police said.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Source: AWM