COLLARED : Honest Escapee With Abysmal Taste in Clothes Promptly Lands Back in Jail

Perhaps, in retrospect, honesty was not the best policy as far as Edwardo Osuna was concerned.

Osuna, 18, knocked on a Castaic resident’s door Thursday night and asked for a change of clothing, explaining--truthfully--that he needed new clothes because he had just escaped from jail, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies reported Friday.

The homeowner responded with a red T-shirt bearing the words “Suck ‘em Up”--giving Osuna such a distinctive appearance that he might as well have kept his jail garb of lime green pants and shirt with the words “L.A. County Jail” on the shirt back.

Sheriff’s deputies easily picked him out of a crowd at a fast-food restaurant and put him behind bars again.

Osuna and Ismael Mendoza, 25, both serving short terms for narcotics convictions, escaped from the minimum security lockup at the Peter Pitchess Honor Rancho in Saugus.

Near midnight, a Castaic resident called the Sheriff’s Department and said a man had just knocked on his door and asked for clothes, admitting he needed them because he had just escaped from jail.

The resident, who was not identified, gave deputies a description of the clothes he gave the fugitive--gray sweat pants and the distinctive T-shirt.

About an hour later, deputies spotted Osuna wearing that T-shirt as he asked for a ride from people at a McDonald’s restaurant on Lake Hughes Road and arrested him.

Mendoza surrendered at the sheriff’s station in Valencia at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Both inmates were being held in the full security jail and will be charged with escape, officials said.