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Toronto Sun
27-05-2025
- Toronto Sun
New Orleans jail escapee was caught with help from an anonymous tip; 2 inmates still on the run
Published May 27, 2025 • 3 minute read This combo from photos provided by Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office shows from left top: Dkenan Dennis, Gary C Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Corey E Boyd. Bottom from left: Lenton Vanburen Jr, Jermaine Donald, Antonine T Massey, Derrick D. Groves, and Leo Tate Sr. Photo by Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office via AP / AP BATON ROUGE, La. — As police continue to scour Louisiana for the two remaining New Orleans jail escapees on the run, one fugitive was captured on Monday with the help of an anonymous tip from a concerned citizen. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Lenton Vanburen Jr., 26, was found Monday evening sitting on a bench near a department store in Baton Rouge — approximately 78 miles (125 kilometres) from the jail he and nine others escaped from earlier this month, police said. Authorities also said Monday that five people were arrested for assisting Vanburen following the audacious jail escape through a hole behind a toilet. Three of those people share the same last name as Vanburen, including Lenton Vanburen Sr. All five were charged with accessory after the fact — a crime that involves harboring, concealing or aiding a felon who is avoiding arrest, trial, conviction or punishment — which is punishable by up to five years in prison. On Monday, two other escapees were arrested in Walker County, Texas. Details about their capture were not available. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Still on the lam are Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey. Groves, 27, was convicted on two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder last year for his role in the 2018 Mardi Gras Day shootings of two men. He also faces a charge of battery against a correctional facility employee, court records show. Massey, 33, has a lengthy criminal history. In March, he was booked on charges of motor vehicle theft and domestic abuse battery involving strangulation. He is also wanted by St. Tammany Parish authorities on suspicion of kidnapping and rape, law enforcement officials told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate. Authorities have urged the public to call police with any information that may lead to the capture of Groves and Massey, and are offering $20,000 in rewards for tips leading to their arrest. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The bold New Orleans jailbreak occurred nearly two weeks ago, when the inmates yanked open a faulty cell door inside a jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the cover of darkness. Authorities didn't learn of the escape until a morning headcount, hours after the 10 men bolted for freedom. Graffiti was left on the wall at the scene of the crime, a message that read 'To Easy LoL,' with an arrow pointing to the gap where the toilet once was. City and state officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail. Conditions had been deteriorating in the jail in the months before the escape, with unsupervised inmates smoking marijuana 'without fear of consequences' and fashioning weapons out of brooms, mops and buckets, according to a new report released Tuesday by an independent watchdog monitoring a 2013 federal consent decree that was intended to reform the jail. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The monitor urged Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson to reestablish a high-security unit in the jail, noting the unrelenting violence among inmates that's made the facility 'not reasonably safe and secure.' Hutson, a progressive reformer, had abandoned the practice of housing certain inmates in a high-security setting after taking office in 2022. 'Many of the inmate-on-inmate assaults occur because staff allow inmates out of their cells and leave them unsupervised, or inmates are able to manipulate the locks on their cells to open them,' the monitors wrote in the report, which was written before this month's escape. —Associated Press writer Jim Mustian in New York contributed to this report. Music Olympics Canada Relationships World
BreakingNews.ie
27-05-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Three more of 10 escapees from New Orleans jail captured, leaving two on run
Three more of the 10 inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail earlier this month have been re-arrested in two different states after more than a week on the run, authorities have said. One of the men was arrested in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by local police and two others were arrested in Walker County, Texas, by officials there, Louisiana State Police posted on X. Advertisement Two more inmates are still on the run, state police said. No other details were immediately released about the latest arrests on Monday. Dkenan Dennis, from top left, Gary C Price, Robert Moody, Kendell Myles, Corey E Boyd. From bottom left, Lenton Vanburen Jr, Jermaine Donald, Antonine T Massey, Derrick D Groves, and Leo Tate Sr (Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office via AP) Authorities have been scouring the New Orleans area for the men after they escaped in a May 16 jailbreak. The men yanked open a faulty cell door inside a jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled under cover of darkness. The inmates' absence was not discovered until a morning headcount, hours after their bid for freedom. Graffiti left on the wall included the message 'To Easy LoL', with an arrow pointing to the gap. Advertisement City and state officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail. Many of the men were originally in the New Orleans jail awaiting sentences or trials for alleged violent crimes (Brett Duke/The Advocate via AP) Louisiana authorities named the latest inmates who were recaptured as Lenton Vanburen, Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald. Jail escapees Dkenan Dennis, Corey Boyd, Gary C Price, Kendell Myles and Robert Moody were previously taken into custody by authorities. Many of the men were originally in the New Orleans jail awaiting sentences or trials for alleged violent crimes including murder. After the escape, a jail maintenance worker was arrested and accused of turning off the water to the toilet, an act authorities said helped the men get out. The worker said he had been threatened by one of the inmates if he refused to do so. Advertisement In addition, four other people have been arrested for allegedly helping the inmates once they were on the loose.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- The Independent
Mistrust in law enforcement complicates the search for the New Orleans jail escapees
As authorities scour New Orleans for escapees from an audacious jailbreak, they are also confronting entrenched mistrust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Nearly a week after 10 inmates yanked open a faulty cell door inside a city jail and moved the toilet to squeeze through a hole, five remain on the lam. The police superintendent has said most of the fugitives were likely still in the city as more than 200 law enforcement personnel work to find them. Complicating efforts is a history of misconduct and racial bias against Black people by city police, a state police record of excessive force, and a jail system found to violate constitutional rights. Officials raised concerns that the men are receiving help from the community after two people were booked Wednesday on accessory charges. Authorities have offered $20,000 in rewards for tips leading to the arrest of the fugitives, many of whom were charged with or convicted of violent offenses including murder. 'If we feel like the law enforcement was here to help us, we would help them,' said Mario Westbrook, 48. He realized only after the arrest of escapee Dkenan Dennis that he had unknowingly spoken with the fugitive that day outside a corner store. Westbrook compared the rush to capture Dennis near Westbrook's home with the often hourslong law enforcement response times in his neighborhood in New Orleans East, a long-marginalized stretch of the majority-Black city. 'Our community, the police come back here, they have no respect for us as human beings," Westbrook said. While dropping off a package near where police had cordoned off streets before capturing escapee Corey Boyd, delivery driver Brandy Peters, 36, said she was surprised authorities caught anyone "because normally crime here goes unsolved.' 'If you ask me, they lean more toward the French Quarter area, protecting and serving there more, making sure that when people come from out of town, that's where they are at,' she said of law enforcement. Police say they are improving In a statement to The Associated Press, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill described law enforcement as doing 'an amazing job in building trust and relationships in the communities they serve" and working to apprehend 'violent and dangerous' escapees. The New Orleans Police Department, which tells the public it has transformed, referred questions to Louisiana State Police, saying it is leading the search. The agency 'continues to work diligently on improving our relationship with our communities," state police spokesman Lt. Jared Sandifer wrote in an email. He added that 'all residents are encouraged to cooperate with law enforcement' to capture the fugitives. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, did not respond to requests for comment. Police history of racial bias and misconduct By all accounts, the New Orleans Police Department has seen drastic improvement over the past decade. It has been subject to what the city called 'the nation's most expansive' federal oversight plan since the U.S. Justice Department found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. It was one of the first major police forces in the U.S. to implement body cameras. But residents are five times as likely to hold a negative view of city police as a positive one, a 2024 survey by the New Orleans Crime Coalition found. Some still recall the bullet-riddled early 1990s, when officers were often the very criminals preying on the city. Dozens of officers were arrested for bank robbery, rape, auto theft and other crimes as New Orleans led the country in police brutality complaints. The low point was arguably 1994, when New Orleans recorded an unprecedented 421 homicides and saw the patrolman-ordered execution of a young woman, Kim Groves, who was escapee Derrick Groves' grandmother. Years later, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 20 officers were charged in a series of civil rights investigations. Officers shot and killed two unarmed people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge in 2007 before orchestrating a cover-up. Security problems and violence in New Orleans' jail City Councilmember Freddie King III lamented during a public meeting this week that several escapees were first locked up as teenagers and remained entangled in the criminal justice system as adults. 'Are we doing enough as a society, as a city, to ensure that our young, specifically Black men, don't end up in jail?' he said. For more than a decade, New Orleans' jail had been subject to federal monitoring intended to improve conditions. Security problems and violence persisted even after the Orleans Justice Center opened in 2015, replacing a decaying prison with its own string of escapes and deaths. 'There's bad blood and history of bad blood toward Orleans Parish incarceration systems,' said Stella Cziment, the independent police monitor of New Orleans. State police operate aggressively Cziment also observed that residents may be 'reluctant' to work with Louisiana State Police, which operates with a heavy hand in the city, including carrying out sweeps of homeless encampments. The agency has a history of excessive force, detailed earlier this year in a scathing U.S. Justice Department report. On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it was 'retracting' the Biden administration's findings of constitutional violations. And this month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a directive to allow the state's law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law. 'I think in this current political climate, people might want to think twice before putting themselves in a situation where they are unnecessarily interacting with police because our civil liberties may not be respected,' said Toni Jones, chair of New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, a grassroots police accountability network. 'Almost like a joke' Tyler Cross, who lives in the St. Roch neighborhood where a SWAT team unsuccessfully sought a fugitive, sees the jailbreak as indicative of "significant systemic issues' with the city's law enforcement and criminal justice system. But amid crumbling infrastructure and frustration over city leadership, residents sometimes just have to laugh, he said. A reliable barometer of the city's mood, local clothing store Dirty Coast, is selling a T-shirt based on the inmates' taunt of 'To Easy LoL' written above the hole where they escaped. 'It's almost like a joke, which kind of speaks to how people feel about the police in this area,' Cross said. 'The whole situation is just kind of ridiculous.' Westbrook, the New Orleans East resident, said police have been 'very active' in his neighborhood since the escape. 'They're looking for somebody for real, so you can't call it harassment,' Westbrook said. 'But we still taking the bite of it in the backend.' —- Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle also contributed.
Associated Press
22-05-2025
- Associated Press
Mistrust in law enforcement complicates the search for the New Orleans jail escapees
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As authorities scour New Orleans for escapees from an audacious jailbreak, they are also confronting entrenched mistrust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Nearly a week after 10 inmates yanked open a faulty cell door inside a city jail and moved the toilet to squeeze through a hole, five remain on the lam. The police superintendent has said most of the fugitives were likely still in the city as more than 200 law enforcement personnel work to find them. Complicating efforts is a history of misconduct and racial bias against Black people by city police, a state police record of excessive force, and a jail system found to violate constitutional rights. Officials raised concerns that the men are receiving help from the community after two people were booked Wednesday on accessory charges. Authorities have offered $20,000 in rewards for tips leading to the arrest of the fugitives, many of whom were charged with or convicted of violent offenses including murder. 'If we feel like the law enforcement was here to help us, we would help them,' said Mario Westbrook, 48. He realized only after the arrest of escapee Dkenan Dennis that he had unknowingly spoken with the fugitive that day outside a corner store. Westbrook compared the rush to capture Dennis near Westbrook's home with the often hourslong law enforcement response times in his neighborhood in New Orleans East, a long-marginalized stretch of the majority-Black city. 'Our community, the police come back here, they have no respect for us as human beings,' Westbrook said. While dropping off a package near where police had cordoned off streets before capturing escapee Corey Boyd, delivery driver Brandy Peters, 36, said she was surprised authorities caught anyone 'because normally crime here goes unsolved.' 'If you ask me, they lean more toward the French Quarter area, protecting and serving there more, making sure that when people come from out of town, that's where they are at,' she said of law enforcement. Police say they are improving In a statement to The Associated Press, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill described law enforcement as doing 'an amazing job in building trust and relationships in the communities they serve' and working to apprehend 'violent and dangerous' escapees. The New Orleans Police Department, which tells the public it has transformed, referred questions to Louisiana State Police, saying it is leading the search. The agency 'continues to work diligently on improving our relationship with our communities,' state police spokesman Lt. Jared Sandifer wrote in an email. He added that 'all residents are encouraged to cooperate with law enforcement' to capture the fugitives. The Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, did not respond to requests for comment. Police history of racial bias and misconduct By all accounts, the New Orleans Police Department has seen drastic improvement over the past decade. It has been subject to what the city called 'the nation's most expansive' federal oversight plan since the U.S. Justice Department found evidence of racial bias, misconduct and a culture of impunity. It was one of the first major police forces in the U.S. to implement body cameras. But residents are five times as likely to hold a negative view of city police as a positive one, a 2024 survey by the New Orleans Crime Coalition found. Some still recall the bullet-riddled early 1990s, when officers were often the very criminals preying on the city. Dozens of officers were arrested for bank robbery, rape, auto theft and other crimes as New Orleans led the country in police brutality complaints. The low point was arguably 1994, when New Orleans recorded an unprecedented 421 homicides and saw the patrolman-ordered execution of a young woman, Kim Groves, who was escapee Derrick Groves' grandmother. Years later, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, 20 officers were charged in a series of civil rights investigations. Officers shot and killed two unarmed people and wounded four others on the Danziger Bridge in 2007 before orchestrating a cover-up. Security problems and violence in New Orleans' jail City Councilmember Freddie King III lamented during a public meeting this week that several escapees were first locked up as teenagers and remained entangled in the criminal justice system as adults. 'Are we doing enough as a society, as a city, to ensure that our young, specifically Black men, don't end up in jail?' he said. For more than a decade, New Orleans' jail had been subject to federal monitoring intended to improve conditions. Security problems and violence persisted even after the Orleans Justice Center opened in 2015, replacing a decaying prison with its own string of escapes and deaths. 'There's bad blood and history of bad blood toward Orleans Parish incarceration systems,' said Stella Cziment, the independent police monitor of New Orleans. State police operate aggressively Cziment also observed that residents may be 'reluctant' to work with Louisiana State Police, which operates with a heavy hand in the city, including carrying out sweeps of homeless encampments. The agency has a history of excessive force, detailed earlier this year in a scathing U.S. Justice Department report. On Wednesday, the Justice Department announced it was 'retracting' the Biden administration's findings of constitutional violations. And this month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a directive to allow the state's law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law. 'I think in this current political climate, people might want to think twice before putting themselves in a situation where they are unnecessarily interacting with police because our civil liberties may not be respected,' said Toni Jones, chair of New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, a grassroots police accountability network. 'Almost like a joke' Tyler Cross, who lives in the St. Roch neighborhood where a SWAT team unsuccessfully sought a fugitive, sees the jailbreak as indicative of 'significant systemic issues' with the city's law enforcement and criminal justice system. But amid crumbling infrastructure and frustration over city leadership, residents sometimes just have to laugh, he said. A reliable barometer of the city's mood, local clothing store Dirty Coast, is selling a T-shirt based on the inmates' taunt of 'To Easy LoL' written above the hole where they escaped. 'It's almost like a joke, which kind of speaks to how people feel about the police in this area,' Cross said. 'The whole situation is just kind of ridiculous.' Westbrook, the New Orleans East resident, said police have been 'very active' in his neighborhood since the escape. 'They're looking for somebody for real, so you can't call it harassment,' Westbrook said. 'But we still taking the bite of it in the backend.' —- Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle also contributed.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
3 inmates recaptured after New Orleans jailbreak; 7 still on the loose
Authorities in Louisiana have recaptured three of the 10 inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail through a hole in a wall behind a toilet, leaving officials to wonder if the men had inside help. The inmates, including some with charges for murder, broke out of the jail in Orleans Parish at about 1 a.m. on May 16. By the end of the night, Kendall Myles, Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis were back in custody, according to Gov. Jeff Landry. "3 down 7 to go, and we ARE NOT slowing down! LOCK THEM UP!" Landry said in a social media post. The inmates pulled a "defective" cell door off its tracks before ripping away a toilet and sink unit from a wall, Sheriff Susan Hutson said. Security footage showed the men leaving via a loading dock, scaling a wall and running across a highway, Hutson said. "We have indication that these detainees received assistance in their escape from individuals inside of our department," Hutson said, adding that a jail employee saw them escape through surveillance and didn't report it. Officials are offering up to a $7,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. The seven inmates still at large are Corey Boyd, Leo Tate, Jermaine Donald, Derrick Groves, Lenton Vanburen, Antoine T. Massey and Gary C. Price. Contributing: Karissa Waddick and Michael Loria, USA TODAY; Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New Orleans jail escape: 3 of 10 inmates recaptured
