Motel Search Proves Fruitless as Escapee Remains at Large

Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies continued their search Tuesday for an inmate who escaped from custody last week--including searching a Gardena motel--but the elusive man was nowhere to be found.

Kevin Jerome Pullum has evaded deputies since he vanished Friday evening, hours after being convicted in Van Nuys Superior Court of attempted murder. After the court appearance, Pullum, 31, who had been in custody since January, was taken by bus to the Inmate Reception Center at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles. He either fled from the center, which has holding cells for hundreds of inmates returning from courthouses, or from elsewhere in the jail, authorities said.

Sheriff Lee Baca, dealing with what he called the first escape since he took over the department three years ago, said that deputies are “hot on [Pullum’s] trail” and that the department has some of its best detectives on the case.

“We’re going to catch him,” Baca said. “It’s in his best interest to come back into the system, because he’s not going to live comfortably in any way, shape or form” on the outside. “He’s going to have to go through some extraordinary measures.”

The sheriff said he believes that Pullum probably switched identification wristbands with another inmate between the time of his conviction and his return to the reception center. As a result, Baca said, he is directing that those plastic bracelets be changed to contain more information about the inmates, including their height, weight and eye color.

Meanwhile, a team of deputies, with help from the Los Angeles Police Department, searched every room of the pink-and-white Crenshaw Holly Motel on Crenshaw Boulevard. Dollie Adams, who has lived in the motel for two years, said deputies asked her if she knew anything about a white van parked outside.

The search was conducted after deputies received an anonymous tip from an informant, said Sgt. Vincent Ramirez of the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau.

Sheriff’s officials say that a bloodhound picked up Pullum’s scent west of downtown Sunday and that he was seen by associates over the weekend. Pullum, whose last known address was in Van Nuys, was described as 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds. He is said to have used the aliases Michael Hill and Eric Dwayne Shelby.

“He was going around quite openly before [reports of his escape] hit the news,” said Lt. Pat Soll, who is overseeing the investigation for the Major Crimes Bureau. “Once it hit the news, the trail dried up. . . . He appeared to be underground.”

Sheriff’s officials said they did not disclose the escape Saturday because they believed they would have a better chance of finding Pullum quickly if there was no publicity. They confirmed his escape late Sunday after The Times received a tip that he was missing.

The sheriff has assigned the entire metro unit of the Major Crimes Bureau to the case. At one point, 48 deputies searched the jail before concluding that Pullum was not hiding there.

On Tuesday, deputies completed a face check of all 18,871 county inmates to confirm that each was wearing the proper wristband. A few inmates were found to be in the wrong cells, but all inmates were wearing their own wristbands, said Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman.

The department is examining every transfer and release that occurred Friday in the jail system to determine if Pullum switched his wristband with another inmate, most likely one who was being released that day.

“It’s a big undertaking,” Dahlman said. “This is highly unusual, given the thousands of people we have coming in and out of here.”

At the Central Jail, Pullum was assigned to Module 3400, a high-security unit with either four or six men in each cell, officials said. After the escape his belongings were searched and some of his correspondence was turned over to sheriff’s detectives. The bloodhound lifted the scent from clothes in the inmate’s cell.

Pullum, who represented himself at trial, was found guilty of firing six shots in May 1999 at a man after a drug deal went sour, authorities said. The conviction was Pullum’s third strike, and he faces up to life in prison. He is due to be sentenced July 19.

He also represented himself in two previous robbery cases, prosecutors said.

“He was fairly shrewd and adept,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Winston, who prosecuted the case.

Times staff writer Caitlin Liu contributed to this story.