Deputies Foil Courthouse Escape Try
Quick-thinking deputies outwitted a suspected drug dealer who tried to escape from a court holding area by confiscating an identification wristband from a detainee scheduled to be released, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.
Robert Valdez, 19, was at Van Nuys Municipal Court Tuesday to be processed on charges of possession of an illegal substance for sale when he physically threatened another detainee if the man did not hand over his ID, Deputy Angie Prewett said.
When that man was called from the lockup area for release, Valdez stepped up and assumed his identity, but his behavior roused deputies’ suspicions, authorities said.
The deputies compared Valdez’s fingerprints with those of the man he claimed to be and his plan to escape was derailed, according to authorities.
Valdez “was foiled by the very release process he was attempting to circumvent,” said Sgt. Richard Dinsmoor, another department spokesman.
The name of the other man--who was in custody on a minor charge--was not made public but he has been released from custody, according to authorities.
Valdez now faces an additional count of attempted escape, Prewett said.
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