Acrobatic Inmate Proves Jail Escapable

Officials who designed the newest maximum security jail at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic said it was virtually escape proof.

But on Sunday, Rodolfo Corona, a 22-year-old inmate awaiting a preliminary hearing on robbery and kidnaping charges, proved that the structure, known as the North Facility, is not the inescapable fortress that planners hoped when it opened in 1987.

His escape--the first from the facility--also demonstrated an acrobatic talent not found among most other inmates, or, for that matter, among most mortals, jail officials said.

Other inmates told officials after the escape that Corona, who stood 5 feet, 8 inches tall, had the agility of a circus performer or professional gymnast. During recreation breaks, he would mount a set of handlebars secured 5 feet above the ground, balancing his body in the air by the strength of his arms.

‘Almost a Human Fly’

“This guy is an acrobat and a half,” said Capt. John Thurman, commander of North Facility. “He’s almost a human fly.”

Corona, who remained at large, displayed a knack for trickery long before his escape, said Los Angeles Police Detective Lou Gutierrez, who was in charge of the criminal investigation that led to Corona’s arrest in Panorama City on June 1.

Gutierrez said that on at least 20 occasions, Corona robbed undocumented aliens living in Hollywood and the Rampart area near downtown Los Angeles of a total of more than $10,000. Showing a security badge and saying he was a police officer, Corona allegedly told the victims that they were suspected of narcotics trafficking and then drove them in his car to their apartments or houses, where he ordered them to give him jewelry and cash that he claimed would be used as “evidence,” Gutierrez said.

Sometimes, he made off with their possessions while they remained locked inside a room, Gutierrez said. On other occasions, he used a handgun or threatened to turn in victims to immigration officials, the detective said.

‘Real Cool’

“He’s got experience beyond his years,” Gutierrez said. “He’s real cool. The victims would say, ‘God, I thought he was a policeman, just the way he acted.”

Jail officials say Corona, who was exercising with other inmates in a courtyard recreation area about 3:30 p.m., first climbed atop the frame of an observation window that extends from a 20-foot wall about eight feet from the ground. Guards periodically look out the window to monitor inmates in the recreation yard, but none were looking while Corona struggled to keep his balance on the sloping window ledge, Thurman said.

From his perch on the window, Corona apparently used a pin from a weightlifting device to pry a hole into the wire mesh that covers the courtyard, Thurman said. He repeatedly twisted the wire links until they broke, cutting a two-foot-long hole through which he escaped onto the roof, authorities said.

After the escape, officials installed metal plating to replace the wire mesh, Thurman said.

Once on the roof, Corona walked to the north side of the facility and jumped to the ground. Thurman speculated that Corona may have first jumped onto an overhang above a loading area, then jumped another 15 feet to the ground.

His escape had already taken him farther than any inmate in the facility’s history, but another, perhaps greater challenge, lay ahead.

Somehow eluding a guard who routinely patrols the grounds, Corona walked another 100 yards to the 20-foot-high main fence enclosing the facility. He scaled the one section of the fence that does not have escape-deterrent screen wire along the top three feet.

Then he slipped through a loop in the razor wire, leaving behind part of his orange jail shirt and some blood from a cut. At that point, he had just one small barbed-wire fence to scale at the edge of the jail compound. Once over it, Corona probably headed north toward Tapia Canyon Road and freedom, Thurman said.

The escape is the third in less than a month from the Pitchess Honor Rancho. The others were from a lightly guarded minimum-security jail in the three-jail Pitchess compound. The other two escapees were caught July 21, one day after they fled.

Thurman said he believes that Corona mapped his escape route while sitting on sheriff’s buses that on three occasions took him from the jail to downtown Los Angeles for court appearances.

“He knew what he was doing,” Thurman said. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Gutierrez said he was not surprised that Corona tried to escape. He faced more than 30 years in prison if convicted on all 17 counts against him, Gutierrez said.

Authorities believe that Corona, himself an undocumented alien, may have fled to his native Mexico. If Corona is ever captured, Thurman joked, he secretly hopes that the inmate will not be returned to the North Facility: He wants Sunday’s escape to be the only one.

“You see in the movies where people scale walls and you say, ‘that’s nonsense,’ ” Thurman said. “I’m a true believer now.”