Sheriff Baca Cites the Slip-Ups That Let an Inmate Slip Away

Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that his employees’ mistakes may have enabled a man charged with kidnapping to escape from the criminal courthouse downtown by walking out the back door.

Alonzo F. Taylor, who is charged with the abduction of a 75-year-old Santa Monica woman during a burglary and is facing a third strike, was improperly classified as a low-level security risk, even though he previously attempted to escape during one of two stints in state prison, and was given privileges that eased his unauthorized exit late Tuesday, the sheriff said.

It’s the latest in a series of inmate escapes blamed on breakdowns in the jail system. Baca said a preliminary investigation showed that Taylor was able to change out of his jail attire and put on a white “release” suit at the courthouse and walk away like other inmates let go daily when their cases conclude.

“A mistake, or more than one mistake, occurred here,” Baca said.

The problems, he said, began with the failure to flag Taylor’s state prison breakout attempt. “That error alone is unacceptable,” Baca said. “A mistake at the front end of the system will compound itself.”

Baca on Wednesday called for tighter restrictions on who becomes a trustee, a status that gives an individual more freedom to roam within a jail and may have given Taylor access to the release outfit.

Baca vowed that the 41-year-old fugitive, who had until this week been held in lieu of $2.1-million bail, would be captured.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Wesley issued the warrant Wednesday for Taylor’s arrest after he failed to show up for trial on a lesser charge of taking a car without the owner’s consent. The prosecutor and alternate public defender were ready to begin jury selection. “But Judge Wesley informed us that the defendant had escaped,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Harmon said. That escape came during a courthouse trip the day before.

Taylor was arrested Nov. 17 by the California Highway Patrol on the Golden State Freeway on suspicion of possessing a stolen car. He was classified by the county jail system as a trustee. Baca said his employees failed to notice the prior attempted escape from state prison, which would have immediately made him a higher-risk inmate.

Then, in February, Taylor was charged with kidnapping, robbery, burglary and making criminal threats in two incidents involving the same victim, the 75-year-old woman, at her Santa Monica home. DNA allegedly from the assailant was tested and linked to Taylor.

Taylor was convicted of burglary in 1991 and received two years in prison. He was convicted of burglary again in 1994 and sentenced to 12 years in prison. A conviction on the kidnap-burglary charges would be a third strike with a lengthy sentence.