CHULA VISTA : Robbery Suspect Escapes From Court
A 34-year-old San Diego man awaiting trial on a robbery charge escaped from a Chula Vista courthouse holding cell Monday, officials said
Jonathan George, who was dressed in street clothes, somehow escaped from a locked holding cell at 11:25 a.m.
A bailiff had taken George during a court recess to an individual cell behind the second-floor Superior Courtroom, according to Brent Chartier of the Chula Vista marshal’s office. The bailiff told authorities that he had pulled on the door to make sure that the automatic lock shut.
But, when he returned in five minutes, George was gone.
“Nobody saw him walk out,” Chartier said. “Once he got out of the courtroom dressed in civilian clothes, no one would notice him.”
George was wearing gray slacks, a white sweater with burgundy stripes and black tennis shoes. He is described as black, 5-foot-11, a muscular 220 pounds, with short-cropped hair and mustache.
George was to be tried in connection with a grocery store robbery, Chartier said.
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