CAMARILLO : Authorities Search for 2 CYA Escapees

Authorities are still searching for two California Youth Authority prisoners who jumped out of a van that was returning them to a fire crew camp in Camarillo.

The state Department of Forestry van was heading south on Route 33 in Oak View about 4:45 p.m. Monday when the two inmates jumped out of the van’s emergency exit, said CYA Assistant Supt. Allison Zajac. The youths were part of a crew that had cleaned out a canal near Lake Casitas.

The youth prison has asked for help from all law enforcement agencies in Ventura County in the search for James Lopez, 19, and Thomas Dakin, 21, who were last seen heading north, Zajac said.

Lopez was committed to the facility for burglary in August, 1989, by the Juvenile Court in San Diego, and Dakin was committed for assault with a deadly weapon in June, 1991, from Ventura County Superior Court, Zajac said.

Prison authorities tightened their criteria for selecting inmates to serve on the fire crews after Camarillo City Council members complained recently that the community was concerned about the number of escapes in recent years.

“These people met the criteria,” Zajac said. “This is a high-risk program. When you take wards out into the public, there is a possibility that there will be escapes.”

Since May, 1991, 14 CYA inmates have escaped, Zajac said. Six of them are still at large.