Search Still On for Jail Escapee

Following a long night in which Sheriff’s Department officials believed escaped inmate Kevin Jerome Pullum might surrender, sheriff’s deputies spent the day Tuesday chasing leads from Hawthorne to West Hollywood in search of the attempted murder convict.

But Pullum, who walked out of Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles 12 days ago, continued to elude authorities. As a result, deputies appealed to Pullum’s relatives to assist them in encouraging him to surrender.

Letters from Sheriff Lee Baca were delivered to a dozen of Pullum’s friends and family members, asking for their help. A letter written to Pullum from the sheriff was also delivered.

“I am very concerned about you and I am certain your family is as well. I need your help and with it, I hope to help you,” Baca’s letter begins. “I would be glad to talk with you or personally meet with you to begin the process of negotiating your return to custody.”

Also Tuesday, another inmate escaped for several hours from a county jail, the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic. The inmate, Edgar Ornelas, 22, was located after a search of more than four hours as he hid in some bushes in Castaic.

Ornelas was serving a one-year sentence for burglary and other charges; he was due to be released Dec. 31. Ornelas walked away from the facility during a training session with a jail fire crew, authorities said. Ornelas had been held at Pitchess’ South Facility, typically used to house inmates deemed to be the lowest flight risk.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which has remained largely silent about the Pullum case, unanimously and without discussion approved a motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich asking Sheriff Lee Baca to report on the escape within 30 days.

In an interview after the meeting, Antonovich bemoaned the Sheriff’s Department’s lackluster history of jail security. “There’s a managerial breakdown that’s taken place,” he said. “And it needs to be corrected now--it needs to be corrected yesterday.”

Sheriff’s officials said they are reviewing security in the jails, given the nature of Pullum’s escape. Pullum pulled off the caper after being returned to the downtown Inmate Reception Center upon his conviction in a Van Nuys courtroom where he had served as his own lawyer. The inmate, held since January, apparently put his jail uniform over his street clothes at the courthouse and then dumped his uniform in the tunnel linking the reception center and the Twin Towers jail.

Pullum, wearing a fake employee badge that apparently contained a picture of actor Eddie Murphy from “Dr. Dolittle 2,” proceeded to walk out an employee entrance to the jail. Pullum, a third striker, faces up to life in prison.

“We screwed up,” said Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman. “We’re willing to take responsibility. If there’s a breakdown, it’s systemwide.”

Sheriff’s officials prepared to rearrest Pullum on Monday night, after a man identifying himself as the escapee called KNBC-TV (Channel 4) saying he wanted to surrender to Christopher Nance, an on-air weatherman. Scores of sheriff’s deputies and media showed up to the agreed-upon surrender site, but Pullum didn’t. Deputies finally left the Hawthorne park at 1 a.m.

NBC officials said a man called Tuesday morning, saying Pullum was in the same location and wanted to surrender. Deputies did not locate the escapee.

Some sheriff’s officials believe Pullum might have gotten scared off Monday evening by the large contingent of law enforcement officers and media representatives, but others aren’t so sure the escapee was actually the man who contacted the news station.

“My gut feeling is that it wasn’t him on the line,” Capt. Bob Malone, who is overseeing the investigation, said Tuesday.

Malone said he was told the man said he would kill himself if his surrender did not go according to his plan.

Pullum “doesn’t have the profile of being suicidal,” Malone said. “To even hear that comment surprised me.”

Malone said he believes Pullum remains in the Hawthorne area, where sheriff’s deputies conducted undercover surveillance Tuesday after a show of force with bloodhounds the previous day.

Sheriff’s deputies also investigated tips that Pullum was elsewhere. An MTA bus driver said she saw him riding on her bus from Hawthorne to 3rd Street and San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood, but deputies failed to locate him in that area. Other callers said they spotted him in Hawthorne and Gardena.

Pullum is described by authorities as 6 feet tall and 240 pounds.

He is scheduled to return to Van Nuys Superior Court for sentencing on Thursday.

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Times staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Detecting an Escape

FRIDAY, JULY 6

10 p.m. Wristband count at Men’s Central Jail. Kevin Jerome Pullum’s wristband does not register.

*

SATURDAY, JULY 7

1 a.m. Pullum’ wristband again does not show up during a count at the jail.

3:55 a.m. Pullum is declared missing from his cell.

4:35 a.m. All holding cells and the floor at the jail where Pullum is housed are searched.

4:55 a.m. Another wristband count takes place.

6 a.m. Lockdown at Men’s Central Jail in an attempt to locate Pullum. Inmates are fed breakfast in their cells.

8:10 a.m. Facility remains locked down and another wristband count is conducted; deputies are instructed to have inmates leave cells while they look for Pullum or his wristband.

10 a.m. Another facility search occurs, wristbands are scrutinized and potential hiding places in the jail are checked.

10:15 a.m. Capt. Rick Adams, who oversees Men’s Central Jail, is notified.

10:25-11 a.m. Twin Towers jail, Inmate Reception Center, Century Regional Detention Facility, North County Correctional Facility and east, north and south facilities at Pitchess Detention Center are called. Inmate counts are conducted at each facility.

12:15 p.m. Sheriff’s weekend duty commanders are notified.

2 p.m. Men’s Central Jail detains day shift deputies and civilian workers to conduct another search and wristband check.

7 p.m. Another jail search and inmate count.

7:20 p.m. Inmate counts are conducted again at all other jail facilities.

10 p.m. Men’s Central Jail holds over the evening shift until early morning and continues the jailhouse search.

*

SUNDAY, JULY 8

6:30 a.m. Pullum is declared an escapee.

6:30-7 a.m. Notifications are made to Sheriff Lee Baca, Undersheriff William Stonich and Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman.

7 a.m. Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau takes over the search for Pullum.

*

MONDAY, JULY 9

Sheriff’s Headquarters Bureau issues press release announcing Pullum’s escape Friday night.

Source: Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department