Latest news with #CortnieHarris
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- The Guardian
Five New Orleans jailbreak fugitives remain on the run as police round up alleged helpers
Several people have been arrested on accusations of helping some of the 10 men who broke out of New Orleans' jail on 16 May – and half of the escapees remained on the run as a manhunt for them entered its second week, according to authorities. Police said Friday that they had booked Casey Smith, 30, a day earlier on allegations that she provided transportation to at least two of the escapees in the hours after the jailbreak. She had allegedly admitted to doing that alongside another woman whom police took into custody on Wednesday, identified as 32-year-old Cortnie Harris, Smith's cousin and the girlfriend of one of the escaped men, Leo Tate, 31. Smith confessed to police who questioned her that she drove to multiple places with Harris, Tate and Jermaine Donald, 42, at some point after the breakout but 'never attempted to contact the police to forward any information', according to sworn statements filed in criminal court by investigations. Meanwhile, 59-year-old Connie Weeden, of the New Orleans suburb of Slidell, was arrested on Thursday, too, reportedly on allegations of giving cash to Donald over a cellphone app. Tate and Donald continued were still at large as of Friday. Prior to that, Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, of Slidell, had been arrested on suspicion of speaking with yet another escapee – Corey Boyd, 19 – by phone and over social media. She also allegedly gave Boyd food while he was inside of a home before authorities recaptured him. Jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams, 33, was booked after allegedly admitting to officials that one of the escaped men had threatened to stab him if he did not turn the water off to a toilet in a particular cell at the facility. Williams allegedly did that, and then the escapees yanked open a cell door and fled through a hole in the wall behind the toilet in question – scrawling taunting messages including 'catch us when you can' and 'fuck' the sheriff's office operating the jail – without officials at the lockup noticing for hours. Beside Donald and Tate, officials on Friday were continuing to search for Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen and Antoine Massey. Kendall Myles, 20; Robert Moody, 21; and Dkenan Dennis, 24, had all been caught within hours of getting away. Boyd and Gary Price, 21, were arrested on Monday. Many of those men were awaiting trials on violent charges, including murder, when they escaped – scaling a barbed wire fence and scampering across a highway – while the lone jail staffer monitoring them left for food. The sensational nature of the breakout has captured international media attention while casting an unflattering light on the city's long-troubled jail and criminal justice systems. For instance, Groves is the grandson of Kim Groves, who filed a brutality complaint against a New Orleans police officer before the officer then hired a hitman to shoot her to death in 1994 in what was one of the city's most notorious murder cases. The officer, Len Davis, eventually received a death sentence. But Joe Biden, at the end of his presidency, commuted the punishment to life imprisonment amid a grant of clemency for 37 death row inmates. Meanwhile, Derrick Groves was in New Orleans' jail after being convicted of two murders as well as pleading guilty to a pair of other killings. He had been at the lockup that generally houses defendants awaiting trial rather than a state prison where convicted murderers serve out their life sentences awaiting post-conviction proceedings. His attorney had also been suspended from practicing law for two years in part for admittedly taking money from clients during a previous suspension. Separately, as the Associated Press reported, the breakout had occurred more than 10 years after the sheriff's office in charge of the jail had endorsed a federal consent decree, a detailed plan aiming to overhaul policies at the facility to reduce violence and improve inmate medical treatment. One scandal that preceded the implementation of that consent decree – which was still in effect on Friday – involved a series of videos which showed people at an earlier iteration of the jail now known as the Orleans Justice Center (OJC) drinking beer, ingesting drugs and ejecting bullets from a handgun. Yet, as scandalous as they once were, those videos do not compare to the seriousness of the 16 May jailbreak, said Rafael Goyeneche, a former prosecutor who is president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, a New Orleans-based watchdog group. If New Orleans' sheriff, Susan Hutson – who took office in 2022 – 'or anyone was thinking about terminating the jail consent decree, this escape has ended any serious discussion about that', Goyeneche said. Court documents filed on Friday and obtained by the Guardian revealed there was a brazen but failed attempt to escape at the OJC on 1 May. In that case, two incarcerated men hoisted a third – identified as Tevin Arbuthnot – who crawled into the ceiling of a pod of cells. Arbuthnot was caught after he fell through the ceiling, which evidently collapsed under his weight, court records said. Two days later, New Orleans voters fell four ballots short of rejecting the renewal of a property tax funding maintenance, staffing and certain programs at Hutson's office. Hutson is up for re-election in October and is expected to face multiple challengers. Within days of the 10-man breakout, she told the New Orleans city council that her office needed millions of dollars to fix various problems at the jail or she 'cannot guarantee' people incarcerated at the facility would not be left unattended in the future. The Associated Press contributed reporting
Fox News
23-05-2025
- Fox News
Fifth suspected New Orleans accomplice arrested for allegedly aiding inmates in jailbreak
A fifth civilian was arrested on Thursday for allegedly helping two of the 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16. Casey Smith, 30, is accused of helping two fugitives immediately after the jailbreak by transporting them to multiple locations. According to a release from the New Orleans Police Department, she admitted to moving the escapees alongside Cortnie Harris, 31, who was arrested earlier this week. Smith's alleged involvement with the escapees was revealed amid an investigation conducted by the NOPD's Special Operations Division Tactical II team, which uncovered evidence that linked Smith to the fugitives. Authorities say she helped transport at least two of the escapees to multiple locations in the hours following their breakout. Officers located Smith at a residence in the city's Third District, where she was taken in for questioning. During the interview, Smith admitted to aiding in the transport of the escapees alongside Harris, police said. Smith was arrested and booked for accessory after the fact to simple escape. Anyone with information relevant to this ongoing multi-agency investigation is encouraged to contact law enforcement. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling Crimestoppers of Greater New Orleans at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 1-877-903-STOP.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
5 New Orleans jail inmates still on the run; 3 people arrested for allegedly helping in their escape
A manhunt for five remaining fugitives entered its seventh day on Thursday after 10 inmates escaped a New Orleans jail last week. Three people have been arrested in connection with the jailbreak, authorities said. Louisiana State Police said Wednesday they have arrested two women, Cortnie Harris and Corvanntay Baptiste, for their alleged roles in helping the 10 inmates escape last Friday. They are charged with felony offenses for helping the men after the escape. Earlier this week, a maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center named Sterling Williams was arrested, accused of aiding the inmates' escape. Authorities allege that Williams shut off the water to a toilet that was covering a hole in a cell wall in order to aid in the escape of the inmates who squeezed through the gap. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the AP, Williams said one of the inmates who escaped had threatened to "shank" him if he didn't turn off the water. 'If the inmates removed the sink in the cell and disconnected the rest of the plumbing with the water still on, the plan to escape would not have been successful and potentially flooded the cell, drawing attention to their actions,' the affidavit said. However, Williams's lawyer said he shut the water off in order to unclog a toilet, not to aid in the escape of the inmates, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Additionally, before the jailbreak unfolded early Friday, another inmate apparently tried to take Williams's phone and tried to get him to bring a book with Cash App information. Williams faces 10 counts of principle to simple escape and one count of malfeasance in office. He's being held on a $1.1 million bond set on Tuesday — $100,000 per count. Hundreds of law enforcement officials at the federal, state and local levels are searching for the remaining inmates who are "considered to be armed and dangerous," Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson had advised the public not to engage with the inmates or approach them. FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp said he believes some members of the public are helping the inmates avoid authorities. The FBI increased the reward for information leading to the capture of the seven inmates, now offering $10,000 per inmate, up from $5,000 per inmate. Crime Stoppers and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also each offering a $5,000 reward for each inmate. "It was a tip from the public that led FBI agents to one of the escaped inmates," the FBI in New Orleans said in a social media post. "We still need your help to locate the seven still on the run." "The FBI will work together to ensure that those people helping these inmates evade recapture will be held accountable," Trapp said Sunday. "These inmates are accused of serious crimes, and until they are back in custody, we should all remain vigilant." Several of the inmates are facing murder or attempted murder charges or other offenses, including burglary, illegal carrying of weapons and domestic abuse involving strangulation. Hutson told reporters Friday that the inmates allegedly started pulling on a defective cell door to pull it off track around 12:23 a.m. Friday and were able to break open a door. "These are the cells that we keep telling we need to replace at great cost in this facility," Hutson said. "There was a corrections monitoring technician in the pod module to be watching that. They were still able to exit the jail about 1:01 a.m. after breaching a wall behind a toilet in the jail." Hutson added they could be seen on video surveillance scaling a wall and running across the interstate. Jail officials discovered the inmates were missing at 8:30 a.m. during a routine headcount Friday morning. The jail was immediately placed on lockdown. Hutson called it a "very serious and unacceptable situation.' The sheriff's office initially said 11 inmates had escaped. Hutson clarified at a Friday afternoon briefing that one man, Keith Lewis, had been moved to a different cell and was never on the run. The following 10 inmates escaped: Antoine Massey, Lenton Vanburen, Leo Tate, Kendell Myles, Derrick Groves, Jermain Donald, Corey Boyd, Gary Price, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis. Myles, Moody and Dennis were recaptured within hours of their escape. They were awaiting trial on various felony charges, according to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. This includes attempted murder, armed robberies, illegally carrying weapons and illegal drug possession offenses. A fifth inmate, Corey Boyd, was recaptured on May 20 and taken into custody. The five recaptured inmates are being held at the maximum security Louisiana State Penitentiary, according to the state Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the recaptured inmates — and anyone who helped in their escape — will face new charges. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said during a Sunday news conference that the state attorney general's office will lead an investigation into the jailbreak, calling it the worst in recent state history. Landry also called for an audit of the sheriff's office as well as the Orleans Parish Justice Center. "This massive jailbreak could be the largest jailbreak in the history of the state, and it never should have happened," Landry said. "The public deserves to know who, what and how this happened."
Washington Post
21-05-2025
- Washington Post
Two charged with helping inmates who escaped New Orleans jail
Two people have been charged with helping inmates who broke out of a New Orleans jail, Louisiana State Police said Wednesday, as a days-long manhunt continues for the escapees whom authorities have called 'armed and dangerous.' Cortnie Harris, 32, and Corvanntay Baptiste, 38, were each charged with felony accessory after the fact and booked into Plaquemines Parish Detention Center, about 30 miles south of downtown New Orleans. If convicted, Harris and Baptiste could face a maximum of five years in prison.
Wall Street Journal
21-05-2025
- Wall Street Journal
Louisiana Authorities Arrest Two for Aiding Jail Escapees
Two more people have been arrested for allegedly helping the inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail last week. Louisiana State Police said they arrested 32-year-old Cortnie Harris for driving two escapees to multiple locations in the city. The other person, 38-year-old Corvanntay Baptiste, was arrested after getting an escapee food while in hiding.
