Prisoner Wins Race to Liberty by Outrunning Guard at Jail

Orange County sheriff’s deputies on Saturday searched in vain for an inmate who slipped out a bathroom window at Theo Lacy branch jail in Orange just after midnight and then won a footrace against a security guard to a rear fence.

Dino Costas Anastasi, 27, had been held at the minimum- to moderate-security jail since his arrest earlier this month on suspicion of receiving stolen property, theft and using a false identification. Police do not consider him dangerous.

Anastasi was able to scale a 15-foot, barbed-wire fence around 12:55 a.m. and dash down the eastbound side of the Santa Ana River bed to elude security guards, officials said.

Deputies tried unsuccessfully to track Anastasi, last seen as he raced toward the Garden Grove Freeway just outside the jail.

Investigators in Field

“Our investigators are out in the field, but that’s all I can say. I’m not at liberty to say what they’re doing at this point,” said Lt. Larry Richey, on watch-commander duty for the Sheriff’s Department. Anastasi is believed to live in Anaheim.

A jail official who asked not to be identified said Anastasi took the screws out of an unbarred bathroom window. A deputy about 50 yards away spotted him as the inmate neared a back fence, but Anastasi was able to scale the razor-edged fence before the deputy could catch him. “We lost the race,” the jail official said.

A jail official who requested anonymity said: “From the inmates we talked to, we couldn’t figure out why he left. They didn’t know. It’s a good deal out here. The inmates get a lot of fresh air, and they like it here.”

Police described Anastasi was as just under 6 feet, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a gold jail jumpsuit and a Levi’s denim jacket.