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Police Recapture El Cajon Jail Escapee

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A monthlong San Diego Police Department search for an accused felon who escaped from the trouble-plagued County Jail in El Cajon last month ended Tuesday with his arrest at an auto garage near his Logan Heights home, police officials said.

Francisco Diaz, 20, also known as Jorge Flores and Jorge Gutierrez, was arrested at 9:30 a.m. at the garage in the 3000 block of National Avenue, where his family also resides, Police Sgt. Gordon Redding said.

Diaz escaped Jan. 9 from the jail in El Cajon, where he was being held on two counts each of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and burglary, and single counts of robbery, auto theft and a previous escape, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

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After breaking through a wall on the jail’s sixth floor, Diaz slid down a rope made of bedsheets and climbed down a tree to the ground, jail officials said. Before escaping, Diaz knocked his cellmate unconscious with a quarter-inch pipe removed from his bed frame.

Diaz is the 15th inmate to escape the El Cajon jail since it opened in 1983.

Police believed Diaz fled to Mexico after severely injuring his leg and spine during the escape, Redding said. “From our investigation, we knew for sure that he was (in Mexico) and were making strides to bring him back when we got an anonymous tip that he was in the area,” he said.

Diaz is being held without bail at County Jail downtown on suspicion of escape in addition to the previous charges.

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