Jail Work Crew Member Escapes

ORANGE — A 25-year-old Fullerton man serving jail time on burglary and drug charges escaped Sunday from a work detail and remained at large late Monday.

Dave Rhys Haymond, who was a month away from his release, jumped from a work crew truck while it was stopped at a traffic light and began shedding his jail clothing as he ran, Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Rivas said.

Investigators were continuing their search Monday after a helicopter and officials on the ground were unsuccessful in finding Haymond on Sunday.

Rivas said Haymond was a minimum-security prisoner at the James A. Musick Jail in Irvine and had been assigned to a work detail that was traveling to Costa Mesa when the escape occurred about 2:15 p.m.

Rivas said the truck was stopped at Chapman Avenue and Prospect Street when Haymond made his escape.

“Every once in a while at this time of year, we have something like this happen,” Rivas said, referring to the approaching Christmas holidays. “We don’t consider him to be a danger to the community at this point. We have investigators out looking for him. We have a pretty good percentage in cases like this.”

Haymond was described as about 5 feet 10 and 150 pounds, with brown eyes and a shaved head.