SANTA CLARITA VALLEY : Another Inmate to Be Charged in Jail Escape
Another of the 14 inmates who broke out of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Saugus over the weekend was charged Wednesday with a felony escape count.
Mario Mendez, who was being held on a cocaine possession count, was the third inmate to be charged in connection with the escape Sunday morning.
Mendez, 25, is expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Whittier Municipal Court. Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Chrystie said Mendez was caught shortly after the 3:15 a.m. breakout, when sheriff’s deputies spotted him crouching behind a bush.
Chrystie said the maximum sentence for a felony escape conviction is three years in prison. But the prosecutor added that Mendez could face double that term because he has a prior robbery conviction.
The Sunday morning breakout was the biggest-ever jail escape in Los Angeles County, authorities say. The inmates escaped by climbing through a vent in the roof and then scaling a razor wire-topped fence with sheets tied together.
All but two of the escapees--a convicted carjacker and a man charged with a gang-related murder--have been caught.
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