2 Teens Apprehended After Escaping From ‘Boot Camp’

Two teenagers escaped from a Los Angeles County juvenile “boot camp” for a few hours before being recaptured by sheriff’s deputies, authorities said Saturday. It was the facility’s second breakout in five days.

Deputies on bicycle patrol caught the escapees in a store parking lot on Bouquet Canyon Road about three miles from Camp Kenyon Scudder, said Lt. Steve Dolan of the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station.

One boy, 17, was taken to Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar to face additional charges, authorities said.

The other escapee, 18, fell into a storm channel while attempting to flee and was injured, said Ed Anhalt, Camp Scudder’s senior probation director. He fell 25 feet, suffering head, wrist and pelvis injuries, Anhalt said, and was being treated at a local hospital.

The teenagers escaped about 8:55 p.m. Friday and were caught about three hours later in the Best Buy parking lot in the 26500 block of Bouquet Canyon Road, authorities said. They were wearing T-shirts, not their standard camouflage uniforms, when they were apprehended, Anhalt said.

“They bolted out of the dorm and gained access to a roof area. They were able to skirt a razor wire fence,” he said.

Officials would not say for what crimes the two escapees had been incarcerated.

In a separate incident, a boy escaped Tuesday afternoon from the medium-security camp by running through a gate buzzed open by a departing guard, Anhalt said. He was caught six hours later at a nearby convenience store parking lot.

Another inmate, who escaped from Camp Scudder in April, hasn’t been found, Anhalt said. In June 1993, three boys escaped from the facility but were quickly recaptured.

Camp Scudder houses 97 boys between the ages of 12 and 18, Anhalt said. The camp, which has operated since 1958, holds wards of the court serving terms of 6 months to a year for felonies including carjacking and assault, he said.

The camp puts inmates through tough physical training and marching drills and offers them daily classes. Many inmates earn high school or general equivalency diplomas at the camp.

“The majority do well in a program like this. Some are problematic,” Anhalt said. He said difficult inmates are sent to a lock-down facility or taken to court to face additional charges.

“We’re taking measures to not have it happen again,” Anhalt said. “We’re talking to the kids and to staff to see what we can do better.”