Jail Escapee Is Apprehended Near the Santa Ana Freeway
A convicted robber, sentenced to a jail near Irvine, walked away from a work crew assigned to farming chores just outside a guarded security area, climbed a five-foot-high fence and escaped Saturday morning.
But his freedom from the James A. Musick Branch Jail was short-lived.
About seven squad cars from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, as well as cars from the California Highway Patrol and Irvine police swarmed the area as an Anaheim police helicopter hovered overhead.
Authorities spotted the prisoner near the Santa Ana Freeway and tracked him with a search dog to a drainage tunnel near the freeway and Alton Parkway.
The prisoner, whose was not released, was recaptured less than an hour after his escape. A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said authorities sent the dog into the tunnel after the escapee refused to come out.
He was treated for a dog bite and released from Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, then returned to the jail.
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