A Louisiana man recently convicted of federal carjacking and weapons charges in an attack on a Terrytown couple two years ago has escaped from Orleans Parish Prison, and prison officials didn't know he was gone until an informant tipped off the U.S. Marshal's Service on Tuesday afternoon, Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Marlin Gusman said.
Donald R. Tucker, 23, formerly of Harvey, was awaiting sentencing on the federal tier of Parish Prison after being convicted of carjacking and weapons charges March 29. He faces a minimum 42 years in prison; his sentencing is scheduled for June 28.
His escape was discovered Tuesday afternoon after a phone call from the Marshal's Service, Gusman said. That touched off a high-priority manhunt led by U.S. Marshals Service, and involving the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, the FBI and New Orleans police.
"We consider him a violent offender, and believe he needs to be picked up off the street as soon as possible," Brian Fair, a deputy U.S. marshal, said Tuesday night.
It hasn't been determined how Tucker escaped, Gusman said.
"It's still under investigation. We're trying to determine everything that transpired," Gusman said, adding he believed Tucker had help "inside the prison." He refused to elaborate or say whether anyone has been identified as an accomplice in the escape.
The Sheriff's Office had not determined late Tuesday afternoon when the escape occurred. "We don't know exactly, but we believe sometime this morning," Gusman said.
Federal officials use the Parish Prison as one of its "contract jails" to keep federal prisoners awaiting trial or sentencing, the U.S. Marshal's Service said. Federal prisoners are kept on a special tier of one of the buildings in the prison complex, and the Sheriff's Office is responsible for their custody.
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