Musick Prisoner Gets His Birthday Wish--Escape
A prisoner who said he couldn’t bear to be in jail on his birthday Wednesday walked away from the James A. Musick Branch Jail, the second inmate in two days to do so.
Dennis Mark Matthews, 21, had been working at the jail at 9:50 a.m. when “all of a sudden, he just walked away,” Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Leonard said. Deputies arrested him near a phone booth at Santa Ana and State College boulevards. Matthews, who was not armed, was still wearing his blue prison-issued uniform, Leonard said.
Matthews, who was serving a sentence for narcotics violations, was scheduled to be released in March but now faces up to additional year in jail if convicted of escaping from a county facility, Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Martini said.
Michael S. Davis, 34, escaped Tuesday from Musick but was caught later that day after leading police on a freeway chase in a stolen truck.
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