NEWBURY PARK : Man Given 2 Years in Attempted Escape
A Newbury Park man was sentenced Friday to two years in jail for trying to escape from the Ventura County Jail.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard E. Simon gave this account:
Jeffrey McKenna, 28, was awaiting sentencing last year on charges of writing bad checks when he made a makeshift rope out of jail bedsheets. After punching a hole in the window of his cell, McKenna lowered the rope to a confederate outside the jail, who attached a saw that the prisoner reeled back into his cell.
When the saw failed to cut the bars of the cell, McKenna lowered the rope to his helper once again. This time he pulled up a tire iron. He was caught as he tried to pry open the cell doors.
McKenna, who pleaded guilty to attempted escape, is serving time in Ohio for the bad-check charges and is eligible for parole in 2001. Under the consecutive sentence imposed by Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick A. Jones, McKenna will have to serve the two-year term after his release in Ohio.
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