3 Teenagers Escape From Juvenile Hall

Three teenagers escaped from Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles late Wednesday, including two convicted of murder in adult courts, after they overpowered guards using a firearm that was apparently smuggled in, officials said Thursday.

Jose Argueta, 17, Marvin Sandoval, 17, and Fernando Nupiri, 18, who remained at large Thursday evening, began their escape about 11:35 p.m. the previous night, when one was allowed out of his locked room to get a drink of water, authorities said.

“He returned brandishing a firearm at the group night supervisor,” said county Probation Department spokesman Ken Kondo, who would not disclose which of the three began the breakout. “The minor then ordered the three members of the staff to lie down on the floor, and he let the other two out of their rooms.”

After locking staffers in one of the 10-by-12-foot rooms, the three scaled a 20-foot wall, which surrounds much of the Eastlake Avenue facility in the shadow of County-USC Medical Center, Kondo said. They then apparently jumped the wall, topped with razor wire, on the west side of the building that is adorned with murals of athletes Oscar De La Hoya and Florence Griffith Joyner.

A hunt began shortly before midnight for the three, described as armed and dangerous. Los Angeles police brought in dogs and aircraft but were unable to immediately track down the escapees.

“These are very dangerous people,” said LAPD Officer Jason Lee. “Their ages don’t reflect their danger to the public. No one should try to approach them. Just dial 911.” Police said the three escaped using a .45-caliber handgun.

The Probation Department, which runs the hall, received a Juvenile Court judge’s permission Thursday to release the names of the escapees.

Argueta, who goes by the street name Lil’ Crazy, was convicted in February 2001 of first-degree murder and conspiracy in the shooting of a 27-year-old former leader of an Armenian street gang at a Hollywood Boulevard deli the previous May. Argueta has a distinct WF tattoo on the back of his head, a reference to White Fence, a longtime Latino gang.

The district attorney’s office says Argueta is awaiting sentencing and faces a possible 50 years to life in prison.

Sandoval was also convicted of murder in an adult court. Nupiri was in custody on a probation violation; he had been convicted of a carjacking in South Gate.

Officials described Argueta as 5 feet 5, weighing 145 pounds; Sandoval is 5 feet 4 and 140 pounds; and Nupiri is 5 feet 5 and 120 pounds. Police said all three are gang members and were isolated from the rest of the inmates because of their crimes.

The facility from which they escaped, also known as Eastlake Juvenile Hall, is the county’s largest juvenile detention center and houses its most violent and repeat young offenders as well as some accused of lesser offenses.

Employees at the 620-bed facility do not carry firearms, and entry is forbidden with any kind of weapon, Kondo said. In addition, he said, the center is equipped with metal detectors. Department officials were trying to determine how the weapon was smuggled in.

One of the three employees who was held at gunpoint was taken to a nearby hospital for a wrist injury; two others were treated for minor injuries at the hall, Kondo said.

.Sources said investigators are trying to determine whether the gun the teenagers used had been smuggled in in a cake.

In the early 1990s, several embarrassing escapes from Central Juvenile Hall took place.

In 1992, two armed teenagers entered the building and freed an inmate, firing shots at a security guard as they fled. The same year, three youths being held in a disciplinary unit jimmied open a window and scaled a wall.

The most dramatic escape occurred in 1990, when a motorist crashed through a fence with a car, and six young men who were in the recreation yard fled.

Wednesday’s escape is at least the second this year from a county juvenile facility. A 17-year-old convicted of attempted murder escaped in March from Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar by smashing a window and scaling a razor wire fence.

Police ask anyone with information to call (213) 485-2942.