Inmate Escapes, Then Hijacks Car, Officials Say

An inmate awaiting sentencing on federal drug charges escaped from a downtown San Bernardino jail Monday morning, then apparently carjacked a vehicle to flee the area, authorities said.

Adrian Carrillo, 24, was discovered missing during a 6:55 a.m. head count at the San Bernardino County Central Detention Center, which houses an estimated 800 inmates. He apparently escaped while on kitchen duty at the jail, said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson.

Investigators are unsure how the 5-foot-9, 150-pound inmate made his way out of the facility but suspect he may have escaped when supplies were delivered to the jail’s kitchen, Patterson said.

“It probably relates to that,” Patterson said. “He didn’t scale a wall or dig a hole.”

Carrillo fled wearing the jail-issued beige clothing given to kitchen workers.

At 7:06 a.m., near 5th Street and Waterman Avenue in San Bernardino, a 1996 Infiniti was carjacked by a man fitting Carrillo’s description, Patterson said. The driver of the Infiniti was not injured.

“We think it was [Carrillo] who took it by force,” Patterson said. “We were using a lot of deputies, sergeants and narcotics officers to search the area of the escape and the carjacking, but they were getting no leads, so we scaled back the personnel there. It looks like [Carrillo] carjacked that car and left the area.”

Carrillo had been jailed in San Bernardino since May 24, 2004, after he was charged with possessing and intending to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine, more than 50 grams of crack cocaine and lesser amounts of cocaine and marijuana.

Last week Carrillo pleaded guilty to four counts. A U.S. attorney’s office spokesman said Carrillo was facing a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison at his scheduled Sept. 12 sentencing hearing.