Prison Escapee Caught After Swim to Rocks
A shivering escapee who authorities said had spent the night swimming in Los Angeles Harbor was captured early Saturday, ending the Westminster man’s brief taste of freedom from Terminal Island federal prison.
Another prisoner, also from Westminster, was captured 15 minutes after the escape Friday night.
Port Officer Kent Hobbs said he spotted Ronald Mendoza, 26, swimming about a quarter of a mile east of the prison shortly after 7 a.m. Mendoza reached nearby rocks and tried to hide but was discovered at 7:50 a.m.
“He was in extreme pain, suffering from hypothermia and cuts on his arms and back from the barnacles and a possible broken ankle,” Hobbs said. Mendoza was returned to the prison, where he was treated for exposure.
Mendoza and Ronald Calhoun, 25, escaped shortly after 8 p.m. Friday but triggered a perimeter fence sensor alarm that alerted guards. Calhoun was captured by the Coast Guard.
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