Open Gate Allows Inmate to Flee Jail

An Altadena man facing the prospect of returning to state prison escaped from the Twin Towers jail in downtown Los Angeles because of a jailer’s mistake, Sheriff Lee Baca said Friday.

Roger Lavelle Nyles, 35, who had been arrested on suspicion of narcotics possession, was part of a crew working in the loading dock area when he persuaded the custody assistant supervising him to let him do extra work outside that secured area, Baca said.

When the gate opened for an inmate bus to enter, Nyles ran, the sheriff said. “We had an inmate doing a job they shouldn’t have been doing outside the secured area,” Baca said.

Once outside the jail’s boundaries, Baca said, Nyles dumped his jail uniform in a trash can and hailed a taxi to South Los Angeles. It wasn’t known where he got the money or what he was wearing.

Sheriff’s deputies with dogs traced his scent to a taxi outside Union Station, where they learned that he had been driven to a shed in South Los Angeles. He remains at large, and deputies are continuing to search for him. Nyles is described as African American, 5 feet 11, 180 pounds with brown eyes.

Pasadena police arrested him Aug. 26 on suspicion of possessing a controlled substance. He was being held in custody pending a parole revocation hearing.

According to a sheriff’s official, it is at least the third escape from the county jail system this year and the second ever from Twin Towers.

The Office of Independent Review, a sheriff’s watchdog agency, has begun investigating the circumstances of the escape.

The Sheriff’s Department tightened security procedures after the highly publicized escape of attempted murderer Kevin Pullum, who slipped out of the Twin Towers jail in 2001 by using a fake identification card with a photo of actor Eddie Murphy as “Dr. Dolittle.”