Three Men Escape California Jail: ‘They Let Hannibal Lecter Out’

A Southern California sheriff on Tuesday acknowledged lapses in security at the jail where three inmates escaped over the weekend, one of them a convicted killer wanted for the mutilation torture of a victim.

Authorities have focused their search in the county’s sizable Vietnamese-American community, where sheriff’s officials say two of the men have ties to gangs.

Jonathan Tieu, 20, of Fountain Valley, faces murder and attempted murder charges in connection with a gang hit, prosecutors said, and Bac Duong, 43, of Santa Ana, faces an attempted murder charge and was being held without bail on an immigration hold pending a possible federal deportation hearing. This undated booking photo provided by the Orange County, Calif., Sheriff’s Department on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016, shows 43-year-old Bac Duong, one of three jail inmates charged with violent crimes, who esca…

For more on the ongoing manhunt, Steve Chiotakis of KCRW in Santa Monica joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson with details.

MORE: Family of youngest OC jail escapee cries out for inmate to turn himself inHossein Nayeri, 37, had been held without bond since September 2014 on charges of kidnapping, torture, aggravated mayhem and burglary.

“I’m just here to tell you that we have taken an extremely proactive approach to… putting the pressure on his gang, to let them know that we are here to find him”, Sawyer said.

The men were last accounted for on Friday morning and jail officials learned the men were unaccounted for at 9 p.m. Friday night, so they had a very good head start to go into hiding. “They had to have had some inside help”.

After the brazen escape on Friday, Nayeri is suspected to be the mastermind behind the prison break, one of his accomplices’ attorneys told the Los Angeles Times.

Sheriff’s department spokesman Lt. Jeff Hallock said the three cut through half-inch steel plate before making it to the roof. Once they made it to the roof, the men rappelled to the ground with a rope made of cloth and bed sheets. “I feel like he was manipulated or tricked into doing this”, said his sister, Tiffany Tieu, telling her brother: “Turn yourself in”.

Motion sensor cameras – available for $55 and often used as baby monitors – can be installed along interior tunnels and pipes to catch inmates, Tamez said.

Hallock said a preliminary investigation has revealed that there could be wider problems with the way this jail keeps track of inmates.

The similarities to last summer’s escape in NY point to complacency among guards and administrators at the California facility, experts said.

It’s unclear why the inmates – who are charged with violent felonies – were housed in the common dorm with dozens of others.

He said the jail is supposed to conduct five counts in a 24-hour period. More involved searches are done randomly, he said, but declined to be more specific.

All three are violent criminals, police said.

Tieu had been in jail since October 2013 on charges of murder, attempted murder and shooting at an inhabited dwelling.

Mr Nayeri is accused, along with three other men, of kidnapping the owner of a California marijuana dispensary in 2012.

A $50,000 reward has been offered in exchange for any information leading to the inmates capture.