Costa Mesa man pleads guilty to helping 3 inmates escape O.C. Jail in 2016

A Costa Mesa man pleaded guilty Thursday to helping three inmates escape from the Orange County Men’s Central Jail in 2016.

Loc Ba Nguyen, 51, admitted to smuggling weapons into a correctional facility, aiding a prisoner’s escape and sending an article useful for escape into a prison, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office. He also has a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a knife.

Prosecutors are offering Nguyen one year in county jail.

Prosecutors said Nguyen visited one of the inmates, Bac Tien Duong, at the Santa Ana facility on Jan. 9, 2016, and received a list of items needed for an escape.

A few days later, prosecutors said, Nguyen left a backpack containing rope, a knife and clothing on the jail premises. He later left a duffel bag at a location near the jail that contained additional clothing, two pairs of wire cutters and two cellphones, authorities said.

Early on Jan. 23, prosecutors said, Nguyen waited in a car near the jail and picked up Duong and two other escapees, Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu, and drove them to a nearby residence.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested Nguyen on Jan. 24.

All three inmates were eventually arrested after a statewide manhunt. Duong surrendered after returning to Orange County from Northern California. Nayeri and Tieu were found in San Francisco.

The trio’s breakout involved cutting through metal, steel and rebar, traveling through plumbing tunnels, going onto the roof and climbing down the jailhouse with a makeshift rope of bed sheets and cloth, according to the Los Angeles Times.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint