Local News in Brief : Modjeska Canyon : Escaped Jail Inmate and Friend Arrested

A 26-year-old man man who escaped from a minimum security jail branch in El Toro last week was found Tuesday hiding in the attic of the Modjeska Canyon home of a friend, who was also arrested, an Orange County sheriff’s spokesman said.

Michael Thomas King of Newport Beach was arrested about noon after investigators from the sheriff’s fugitive team obtained a search warrant for the home of Carl Richard Taylor, 62, at 28331 Modjeska Canyon Road, Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

The investigators had learned that King was being helped by Taylor and was possibly staying at his house, Olson said.

They found King hiding in the attic, he said. The road leading to Taylor’s home is visible from the house “and you can see anyone coming,” Olson said. King possibly hid in the attic when the investigators’ car was spotted, or when they entered the house, he said.

Taylor was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting a felon and was being held on $10,000 bail, Olson said.

King was discovered missing at 10:40 p.m. Thursday during a bed check at the James A. Musick Facility. He originally had been arrested by Anaheim police on Dec. 23 for violation of probation because he possessed a hypodermic syringe, Olson said. Olson did not know the nature of the criminal conviction that had led to the probation.

King was due to be released from the minimum security jail April 13, Olson said. He now is charged with felony escape, he said.

King is now considered a security risk and is lodged at the main jail in Santa Ana.