Latest news with #ToEasyLoL
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Two escapees from the New Orleans jailbreak remain at large. One has a lot of experience being on the run
More than a week after 10 prisoners conducted a daring escape out a bathroom wall in a New Orleans jail, two inmates remain on the run, prompting an intensified search across state lines. Authorities on Monday captured three escapees: Lenton Vanburen, Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald. Tate and Donald were the first of the escaped inmates to be found outside Louisiana. They were arrested in Texas after what the Huntsville Police Department described as a high-speed chase involving multiple law enforcement agencies. Now with eight escapees recaptured, the manhunt continues for the last two remaining inmates –– Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves –– both of whom should be considered armed and dangerous, authorities say. Here's what we know about them. Antoine Massey is no stranger to breakouts. The 33-year-old has a history of escapes dating back to 2007, when he broke out of a New Orleans juvenile detention center after being arrested for armed robbery and aggravated assault, according to A broken lock at the center allowed Massey, then 15, and five other juveniles to access metal shackles, which they used to shatter a window and escape, reported. The teen stayed on the run for more than two weeks before authorities found him on an interstate in east New Orleans. Two years later, Massey faced a charge of attempted simple escape in Orleans Parish, according to online court records. CNN reached out to the parish sheriff's office for more details about the circumstances around the charge. At 27, Massey and another inmate broke out of a detention center in northern Louisiana in broad daylight by cutting and slipping under a chain-link fence in the exercise yard, Chief James Mardis of the Morehouse Parish Sheriff's Office told CNN last week. The two men were believed to have been picked up by a vehicle with Texas tags that was seen in the area. Massey was caught in Texas later that day. Massey has also twice cut off electronic ankle monitors, according to Matt Dennis, an employee with the company that operates the monitors who spoke to CNN affiliate WDSU. Court records from late 2023 alleged Massey had 'tampered and/or removed the court-ordered GPS monitor.' Dennis told CNN affiliate WVUE he was 'astonished' that someone with Massey's history of escape was being held on the first floor of the New Orleans jail. 'There isn't an ounce of this man's history that doesn't say 'escape',' Dennis said. Chief Mardis, who shared details of the inmate's 2019 escape, said it was no shock to learn of the current breakout: 'It didn't surprise me, because (Massey) was known for that.' It's still unclear how big of a role Massey may have played in planning this month's jailbreak, which the Orleans Parish sheriff has described as a 'coordinated effort.' The 10 inmates escaped through a hole in the wall behind a metal toilet in a handicapped cell. The escapees appear to have scrawled 'To Easy LoL' on the cell wall. The jailbreak has been blamed on a combination of faulty locks, stolen blankets and possible help from inside the jail. As of Tuesday morning, it is believed that at least 13 people helped the 10 escaped inmates – either before or after the May 16 jailbreak. The growing number of arrests provides new insight into just how elaborate and far-reaching the planned jailbreak may have been. Sterling Williams, a maintenance worker who turned off the water to the toilet, is charged with aiding the escape. Massey purportedly threatened to shank Williams if he did not turn off the water, according to an affidavit, but Williams' attorney later told the Associated Press that one of the jail's deputies asked Williams to fix the toilet because it was overflowing. 'Yes, someone said they would shank him … (but) they didn't say it in a particularly threatening manner. They said it more as an aside,' Michael Kennedy, the attorney for Williams, told the AP. Kennedy argues Williams was only doing his job and that jail officials are 'trying to use him as a scapegoat to minimize their own embarrassment' over the breakout. The other escaped inmate who's still at large is 27-year-old Derrick Groves, who was being held at the New Orleans jail after being convicted near the end of last year in the killing of two people on Mardi Gras day in 2018. Groves was found to be one of the gunmen who opened fire with AK-47-style assault rifles 'on what should have been a joyous Mardi Gras family gathering,' the district attorney's office said. Groves was found guilty of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder, charges that carry a life sentence, according to the district attorney. Groves' aunt, Jasmine Groves, told CNN affiliate WDSU that she wants her nephew to turn himself in and that she hopes deadly force will not be used against him. She said she's seen police cars and helicopters around her and other family members' homes since the breakout.
Boston Globe
23-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Mistrust in law enforcement complicates the search for the New Orleans jail escapees
Officials raised concerns that the men are receiving help from the community after two people were booked Wednesday on accessory charges and a third was booked Thursday. 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. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up '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. Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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. Many residents, exasperated with what they see as the incompetence of city governance, are mocking the outrageous escape. Local clothing store Dirty Coast, a reliable barometer of the city's mood, is even selling a T-shirt based on the inmates' taunt of 'To Easy LoL' written above the hole where they escaped. 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. But Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a statement earlier this week that she is committed to 'protecting our deputies, protecting the public, and restoring trust in a justice system that must work for everyone.' Advertisement Louisiana lawmakers are considering legislation to require sheriffs to immediately notify state and local law enforcement and the public of an escape because of questions about how long that took after the New Orleans jailbreak. 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 2005 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. Advertisement 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. '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.' Advertisement 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
20-05-2025
- Yahoo
Maintenance worker arrested for assisting New Orleans jail break
Police have arrested a maintenance worker at the New Orleans jail for helping ten inmates break out of the US facility last week, Louisiana's attorney general has announced. The worker, identified as 33-year-old Sterling Williams, was arrested on Monday night, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News. Mr Williams is accused of turning off the water to the cell that was used for the escape, which involved removing a toilet from the wall. The inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Jail in the early hours of 16 May. Three were captured later that day, and a fourth was apprehended on Monday. Police earlier said several of the detainees were facing charges of murder and other violent offences. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in her statement that Mr Williams "admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from". "Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape," she added. Mr Williams is facing 10 counts of a charge known as principal to simple escape, and another of malfeasance in office. He is yet to comment publicly. Liz Murrill said the investigation was ongoing, and that authorities would "uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows". "I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case," she said. Sheriff Susan Hutson earlier said that the inmates yanked the sliding door from their jail cell off its tracks at 00:23 in the early hours of Friday morning (05:23 GMT). Separately, they later ripped the toilet off the wall and broke metal bars around a hole used for piping that was exposed by the missing toilet. The group then made their escape by climbing down a wall and running across a highway, the sheriff said. The sheriff's office released images of the hole in the wall, which shows what the piping fixture looked like before the toilet was ripped out. The photos note that "there are clean cuts" on the metal bars. The images also show messages and drawings on the wall apparently left behind by the inmates, including the words "To (sic) Easy LoL" with an arrow pointing to the hole, and a smiley face with its tongue out. Another message, partially smudged, appears to tell officers to catch the inmates when they can. The prison is located near the centre of New Orleans, around 3km (2 miles) from its famous French Quarter. 'To Easy LoL' - New Orleans jail break may have been inside job Video shows prisoner on the run minutes after van escape
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Business Standard
17-05-2025
- Business Standard
10 escape New Orleans jail through hole in cell wall while guard gets food
Ten men broke out of a New Orleans jail Friday in an audacious overnight escape by fleeing through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a wall while the lone guard assigned to their cell pod was away getting food, authorities said. Eight of the escapees, including suspects charged with murder, remain on the lam following the breakout that the local sheriff says may have been aided by members within the department. Surveillance footage, shared with media during a news conference, showed the escapees sprinting out of the facility some wearing orange clothing and others in white. They scaled a fence, using blankets to avoid being cut by barbed wire, and then some could be seen sprinting across the nearby interstate. A photograph obtained by The Associated Press from law enforcement shows the opening behind a toilet in a cell that the men escaped through. Above the hole are scrawled messages that include To Easy LoL with an arrow pointing at the gap. The absence of the 10 men, who also utilized facility deficiencies that officials have long complained about in their escape, went unnoticed for hours. It was not until a routine morning headcount, more than seven hours after the men fled the facility, that law enforcement learned of the escape. Officials from the sheriff's office say there was no deputy physically at the pod, where the fugitives had been held. There was a technician, a civilian who was there to observe the pod, but she had stepped away to get food, they said. Soon after the escape, one of the men, Kendall Myles, 20, was apprehended after a brief foot chase through the French Quarter. He had previously escaped twice from juvenile detention centers. By Friday evening, another fugitive, Robert Moody, had been captured, according to Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office. Officials found him in New Orleans thanks to a Crimestoppers tip. Sheriff blames defective locks' and possibly inside help Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of defective locks. Hutson said she has continuously raised concerns about the locks to officials and, as recently as this week, advocated for money to fix the ailing infrastructure. Hutson said there are indications that people inside her department helped the fugitives escape. It's almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help," she said of the jail, where 1,400 people are being held. The escapees yanked open a door to enter the cell with the hole around 1 a.m. They shed their jail uniforms once out of the facility, and it is still unclear how some of them obtained regular clothing so quickly, officials said. Authorities did not notice the men were missing until 8:30 a.m. Authorities initially said 11 had escaped, but at a Friday afternoon news conference said one man thought to have escaped was in a different cell. Three employees have been placed on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation. It was not immediately clear whether any of the employees were suspected of helping with the escape. Officials also didn't say if the guard who left to get food was among the three suspended. Who are the fugitives? The escapees range in age from 19 to 42. Most of the men are in their 20s. One of the fugitives, Derrick Groves, 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. Law enforcement warned that he may attempt to locate witnesses in the murder trial. Another escapee, Corey Boyd, had pled not guilty to a pending second-degree murder charge. Hutson said the police department was actively working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to search for the fugitives. Police relied on facial recognition technology to identify and capture one fugitive, said Bryan LaGarde, executive director of Project NOLA, a nonprofit operating more than 5,000 cameras around New Orleans. His organization, which partners with Louisiana authorities, entered the escapees' images into the system and quickly found two in the French Quarter. "They were walking openly in the street. They were keeping their heads down and checking over their shoulder. LaGarde said, adding that the other fugitive walked out of sight of the cameras. State and local officials blast jail authorities This represents a complete failure of the most basic responsibilities entrusted to a sheriff or jail administrator, said Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams. He blasted the sheriff's office for a multi-hour delay in notifying authorities and the public of the escape. These inexcusable failures have put lives in danger. Williams that some of the escaped men have a history of witness intimidation of citizens who were brave enough to speak up. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill called the escape beyond unacceptable" and said local authorities waited too long to inform the public. She said she reached out to surrounding states to alert them about the escape, saying they have had plenty of time to get to frankly anywhere across the country. New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said her agency has put a full court effort to respond to the escape and is working with the FBI and U.S. marshals. Officers were focused on identifying and providing protection for people who may have testified in their cases or may be in danger. One family has been removed from their home, Kirkpatrick said. If there is anyone helping or harboring these escapees, you will be charged, Kirkpatrick added. Turmoil at New Orleans' jail New Orleans' jail has for more than a decade been subject to federal monitoring and a consent decree intended to improve conditions. Security problems and violence persisted even after the city opened the Orleans Justice Center in 2015, replacing the decaying Orleans Parish Prison, which had seen its own string of escapes and dozens of in-custody deaths. A federal judge declared in 2013 that the lockup had festered into an unconstitutional setting for people incarcerated there. Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said staff is stretched thin at the facility, which is around 60% staffed. Bianka Brown, chief financial officer of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, said they can't afford a maintenance and service contract to fix problems such as broken doors, lock replacements and other ailing infrastructure. The jail contained numerous high security people convicted of violent offenses who required a restrictive housing environment that did not exist, said Jay Mallett, Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office chief of corrections. The sheriff's office was in the process of transferring dozens to more secure locations.
