A girlfriend of a New Orleans inmate still at large is charged with aiding his escape

Yahoo

3 days ago

Agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and US Marshals arrested a former correctional center employee Monday who is accused of helping one of the two New Orleans prison escapees still on the run plan the brazen escape.
Darriana Burton was taken into custody without incident in New Orleans and is facing a felony charge of conspiracy to commit simple escape related to her alleged involvement in facilitating Derrick Groves' escape last month, the state's attorney general said in a statement.
'Burton is believed to be the current girlfriend of Derrick Groves. We have confirmed they were in an on-again, off-again relationship for three years,' Liz Murrill said.
Burton worked for the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office from August 2022 to March 2023, according to Murrill.
She does not have a defense attorney listed yet, according Orleans Parish Magistrate Court records, and joins more than a dozen other people already charged with helping the 10 escapees, both before and after they broke out.
Special agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation discovered there was 'probable cause' that Burton 'knowingly and willfully' helped plan the escape, which saw inmates removing a sink-toilet combination unit from a cell, use a tool to saw through steel bars behind the fixture, and leave the Orleans Parish Correctional Center after midnight on May 16.
During their review, investigators discovered Burton had exchanged text messages and video calls with Groves in the days leading up to the escape.
'As part of the investigation, agents reviewed inmate communications transmitted through SmartCom, an internet-based messaging and video call system utilized by inmates via facility-issued iPADs,' the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit for Burton.
'This conversation remained intentionally vague,' the affidavit said, and appeared to coordinate communication on unmonitored lines to plan the escape.
'It was implied that Burton would initiate a separate, unmonitored phone call' immediately after the SmartCom session ended, according to the affidavit, which alleged that her actions demonstrated 'intentional and active involvement in the planning phase of the escape.'
Eight of the escapees have been caught – most of them in New Orleans. Only Groves, 27, convicted last October of killing two people, and Antoine Massey, 32, who has a history of escaping custody, have continued to evade law enforcement.
There is now a $50,000 reward for information that leads to either of their arrests, as multiple law enforcement agencies are asking the public to remain vigilant and continue to be on the lookout for the two men. Tips from the public continue to trickle in, the US Marshals Service says.
'The joint investigation between multiple law enforcement agencies continues and we continue to follow up on Crimestoppers GNO tips and develop new leads,' Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair told CNN.
'To those that would aid or hide Groves and or Massey, you are doing a disservice to the community and you may have your own day in court with felony charges in the near future,' Fair said.
Last week, law enforcement agencies searched the home where they believe Massey may have recorded a video proclaiming his innocence and asking rapper Lil Wayne and President Donald Trump for help, but since then, the manhunt has gone quiet.
'We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,' Murrill said in the statement.