Some Trusted Inmates Just Walk Out the Door

They are known in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as walk-aways.

They are convicted inmates who are allowed to work in the department’s stations and jails because they are considered low-security risks but who nevertheless take advantage of the light supervision to slip away undetected.

In one week last month, four of them walked away. Three were captured and returned to jail to face felony escape charges. One remains at large; two detectives are literally beating the bushes in Wilmington searching for the former transient.

The department does not respond in the same way to these escapes as it does when other inmates, considered to be more dangerous, flee.

Last summer’s escape by Kevin Jerome Pullum, for instance, triggered a widespread search that included about half the department and the LAPD. Pullum eluded authorities at the Twin Towers jail after being convicted of attempted murder; he used a fake identification card with a photo of actor Eddie Murphy as “Dr. Dolittle” to slip out.

Scores of deputies, along with police from other agencies, fanned out across the county to capture Pullum. He was found on skid row by Los Angeles Police Department officers.

By contrast, the hunt for walk-aways is low-key. Six detectives have the job of finding them; between searches, those deputies tend to other duties. Often, however, their hunts for walk-aways are short ones.

Assistant Sheriff Dennis Dahlman, who oversees the custody division, said that when he was a deputy in Lynwood, inmate workers would occasionally leave their posts, only to stop in at the topless bar next door. Deputies would simply drop in on the bar, round up the wayward inmate and head back to the station, quarry in tow.

Convicted Felons Now Part of Special Program

Over the years, the pool of inmates used for these work assignments has changed. Years ago, more of the inmates were in jail for less serious offenses, such as drunk driving, public drinking and low-level drug possession. Today, however, inmates in the program are more likely to be convicted felons, serving county jail sentences for, among other things, robbery or assault with a deadly weapon.

Pedro Guevara, the inmate who escaped this month and continues to elude authorities, was convicted of robbery and sentenced to a year in county jail.

Sheriff’s Department officials defend their practice of using inmates to clean and perform various duties in the stations and jails. They say these inmates provide a valuable service, saving the county--and thus, taxpayers--money that would otherwise be spent on costly maintenance contracts. Inmates even clean the sheriff’s headquarters in Monterey Park.

Moreover, department officials say, they are careful to screen these inmates to select only those who are determined to be at the lowest risk of escaping. Of the nearly 3,000 inmates who applied for the work program last year, 1,900 were disqualified from station assignments.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Dahlman said. “We’re going to make mistakes on people. We make the best determination we can ... but we’ve had these walk-aways since we’ve had the program.”

Baca’s Rivals Criticize Eligibility Parameters

Still, some are concerned, particularly by the recent spate of escapes.

County Supervisor Mike Antonovich recently directed department officials to explain the screening process for these inmates. And Sheriff Lee Baca’s challengers in the upcoming election said they would not allow it to continue in its present form.

“These are serious felons,” Antonovich said in an interview. “Those convicted of violent offenses should not be part of the program.”

Sgt. Patrick Gomez, who is opposing Baca in the March 5 election, said he would require inmates to wear an ankle bracelet to track their whereabouts if they work outside the jails or stations. And, Sgt. John Stites, another Baca challenger, said he would reevaluate how inmates are screened for the program.

The guidelines are stricter for inmates assigned to work in stations than for those working in jails. The inmates in the stations typically have more freedom, and department officials say they have more rigid requirements.

According to the department guidelines, inmates who are eligible to work in stations cannot have any prior violent crime or sex crime convictions, they cannot have extensive criminal records, and they must be serving sentences of 90 days or more in county jail. They must not have any current restraining orders against them, nor can they be under any medical or mental health care. They also must have a permanent home address.

Inmates who work in the jails, known in the department as trusties, must meet many of those same guidelines but not all.

Guevara, 55, was sentenced in November. He did not have an extensive record, and he was not receiving any ongoing medical care, according to the department and the prosecutor who handled the case. He was, however, a transient when he was arrested.

Guevara walked away from the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood on Jan. 16. He was working on the loading dock with about six other inmates when the deputy supervising the workers apparently got a phone call and entered a nearby office, the station captain said. At that point, Guevara slipped on a jumpsuit used by other workers, turned his jail-issued denim jacket inside out and ran past the security gate to freedom.

“He had been working that assignment for the previous 30 days, but for whatever reason, he picked that day to leave,” said Capt. Steven Selby, who commands the jail. “How dangerous is this person? To us, he was a very, very low risk.”

What typically makes these inmates bolt, Sheriff’s Department officials say, is an emotional call from a family member, a girlfriend or a close friend.

That’s precisely what happened on Jan. 12, officials say, when two inmates escaped together from the East Los Angeles station. One left after hearing from a girlfriend, and the other left after he was notified that a friend had been shot, department officials said.

The men were found, four days later, hiding in an attic of a house in Huntington Park. Ramon Ferrin, 18, was sentenced for drug possession; the other, Jose Iniguez, 20, for weapons possession.

The third worker who escaped in January, Derik Frazier, 19, walked away from the Temple City station Jan. 10 and was recaptured 11 days later, hiding under a bed in West Covina. Frazier had been sentenced to a year in county jail on a felony burglary charge.

8 Inmates Walked Away Last Year; 7 Recaptured

In all, six inmates who worked in stations escaped last year; five were found. Two escaped from jails, and both were captured. So far this year, four have walked away from stations, and three have been captured.

Guevara is proving elusive. Dets. Robert Mallon and Michael Soop are spending their days cruising alleys, overpasses and parks, and passing out fliers featuring Guevara’s mug shot. They promise transients $20 for information.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Mallon said the other day as he picked through blankets and garbage in an area next to railroad tracks and across from large, bright yellow sulfur piles in Wilmington. “He’s going to get caught. He doesn’t know anything else but this.... We’ll get him sooner or later.”

Mallon, who has worked for the department 32 years, said he will chase Guevara until he is caught, or until Mallon receives another case. As a member of the department’s metro unit, Mallon also investigates cases involving kidnapping for ransom, murders for hire, major extortion and serial robberies. He worked on the Pullum case, putting in hours and hours of overtime along with other detectives.

Lt. Joe Impellizeri, Mallon’s boss, said he makes a judgment call about the length of these searches and the resources committed to them.

“We’re assessing the risk to the community,” he said. “I’m not going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime like we did with Pullum. This guy’s not a threat.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Alfred Coletta, who prosecuted Guevara, said the inmate had used a knife in the course of a robbery that involved his girlfriend.

Coletta said the victim, another transient, had tried to get his radio back from the girlfriend when Guevara apparently threw down the knife to intimidate him.

“I don’t think he’s going to be a mass murderer in L.A. County,” Coletta said. “I don’t think he’s going to be hard to find.”

Still, the hours spent driving through Wilmington aren’t the most thrilling for the veteran detective. “It’s exasperating,” Mallon said. “Real exasperating.”