Search continues for 7 of 10 men who escaped from New Orleans jail, reward for info increased

NEW ORLEANS AP Three days after a men escaped a New Orleans jail by slipping through a hole behind a toilet and scaling a wall seven of them remain on the run Monday The FBI on Sunday increased the reward it is offering for information leading to the arrest of the escaped men raising it from to per escapee FBI Special Agent Jonathan Trapp noted during a news conference that he believes members of the masses may be helping them and if that s the development would be arrested on charges of aiding or abetting them In addition to the FBI reward the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives was offering and CrimeStoppers informed a reward per escapee The men range in age from to and face a variety of charges including aggravated assault domestic abuse battery and murder While three men were promptly caught a multiagency task force has been assembled to scour the region for the seven remaining fugitives The escape A law enforcement photograph obtained by The Associated Press shows the opening through which the men escaped Above the hole are scrawled messages that include To Easy LoL with an arrow pointing at the gap Friday s escape is drawing intense scrutiny and criticism It took hours for sheriff s bureaucrats to realize the men had escaped and then more time still to alert New Orleans police even though selected of the missing men are accused of violent offenses and they escaped into a neighborhood less than miles km from the city s famous French Quarter Someone clearly dropped the ball and there s no excuse for this Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill commented on X Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams who disclosed he prosecuted one of the people who escaped stated New Orleans news station WWL-TV he was angry This is absurd he noted I don t understand how it is feasible that it could have occurred What are jail personnel saying Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson stated the men were able to get out of the Orleans Justice Center because of defective locks and possibly with help from people inside her department It s almost impossible not altogether but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help she announced Friday of the jail where people are being held Hutson reported she has repeatedly raised concerns about the locks and again this week pushed for funding to fix jail infrastructure Surveillance footage shared with media during a news conference revealed the escapees sprinting out of the facility certain wearing orange clothing and others in white They scaled a fence using blankets to protect themselves from barbed wire and a few sprinted across an interstate and into a neighborhood Why did it take hours to learn about the escape The escapees yanked open a door to enter the cell with the hole around a m By a m they were outside the jail according to the sheriff s office But it was not until a routine morning headcount more than seven hours later that law enforcement learned they were missing Representatives from the sheriff s office say no deputy was at the pod where the fugitives had been held There was a civilian employee there but she had stepped away to get food they commented There appeared to be a further delay before New Orleans police were notified You ve given a head start to specific very dangerous people Williams communicated WWL-TV Friday Soon after the escape one of the men Kendall Myles was apprehended in the French Quarter after a brief foot chase Three sheriff s employees have been placed on suspension pending the outcome of an research It was not promptly clear whether any of the employees were suspected of helping with the escape Bureaucrats also didn t say if the employee who left to get food was among the three suspended Who are the men who escaped The greater part of the men are in their s Myles and the other two men who were captured Robert Moody and Dkenan Dennis were taken by helicopter to a state correctional facility outside the New Orleans area Louisiana State Police noted Saturday The agency mentioned one of the men became hostile during the transfer requiring troopers to use a spit hood They did not identify the man Dennis had been charged with armed robbery with a firearm and illegal carrying of a weapon during a crime of violence according to Murrill the attorney general Moody was facing a weapons charge as well as charges of attempted second-degree battery and obstruction Murrill reported both men will face additional charges stemming from the escape One of the fugitives Derrick Groves was convicted on two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder last year for his role in the Mardi Gras Day shootings of two men Another escapee Corey Boyd had pled not guilty to a pending second-degree murder charge The jail has had problems before The justice center opened in making it a relatively new facility but it has still experienced violence and protection problems Hutson declared the facility is around staffed so the staff is stretched thin Bianka Brown chief financial officer of the Orleans Parish Sheriff s Office announced the jail can t afford a maintenance and facility contract to fix problems such as broken doors lock replacements and other ailing infrastructure The jail contained numerous high shield people convicted of violent offenses who required a restrictive housing milieu that did not exist commented Jay Mallett Orleans Parish Sheriff s Office chief of corrections The sheriff s office was in the process of transferring dozens to more secure locations Hutson is facing reelection this year and at least one of her opponents former interim New Orleans Police Superintendent Michelle Woodfork demanded she answer questions about the escape Williams the district attorney appointed Woodfork to a position in his office last year Noting the sheriff s race was starting Hutson called the timing of the escape suspicious She did not elaborate