The three men who escaped from the Orange County Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana Friday did so by orchestrating what authorities called a "very well thought-out plan" that had possibly been in the works for months.City News Service reports that the escapees made their way to the roof of the jail by cutting through 1/2-inch steel bars and forced their way into a plumbing tunnel, which led them to the roof of the jail. Once on the roof, which was unsecured, they got around the barbed wire, and used either sheets or clothing as a makeshift rope to rappel four stories down to the ground, where they then fled on foot, according to the O.C. Register.
"Each of the three should be viewed as very dangerous," Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock told ABC-7. "We don't have any specific information that they are armed, but I think the public should expect the worst if they're encountering them."
The three escapees, which include 37-year-old Hossein Nayer, 20-year-old Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong, 43, were last accounted for at the 5 a.m. body count on Friday. They were not discovered missing until the second body count of the day at 9 p.m. City News Service reports an altercation that occurred in the jail around 8 p.m. on Friday provided a distraction that allowed them to make their escape.
In a press conference this morning, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said that the U.S. Marshals Service is now offering a $30,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrests of the escapees. This is in addition to the $20,000 offered by the FBI. Anyone with information is asked to call the O.C. Sheriff's Department at 714-628-7085 or to submit anonymous tips to CrimeStoppers at 855-847-6227.
Updated, 4:22 p.m.: The O.C. Sheriff's Department released a series of images from inside the Orange County Men's Central Jail that showed how the escape went down:
