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| Officer Admits to Helping Inmates Escape |
| By CBS News Chicago |
| Published: 02/20/2006 |
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A Cook County, Ill., jail officer has told Illinois investigators he helped six Chicago inmates escape over the weekend in an attempt to influence the upcoming sheriff's election, according to newspaper reports published last week. The 36-year-old officer originally told investigators he was overpowered by the inmates during the jailbreak last weekend. Authorities caught the last of the inmates early last week. The officer has changed his story and told investigators that he aided the escape in an effort to embarrass outgoing Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan and his chief of staff, Tom Dart, who is running for sheriff, according to reports. The officer, a former Marine who worked in the sheriff's department for 11 years, reportedly wanted to give a lift to the campaign of Richard Remus, a former jail official who is running against Dart and another candidate for the Democratic nomination. Remus, the former leader of the jail's Special Operations Response Team, denied any involvement in the alleged plot. A law enforcement source said there was no evidence connecting him to it. "They're trying to insinuate this was done politically," Remus said Monday. "None of them (the officers) would ever let an inmate out of jail to help me. I would never sacrifice anybody for this election." A spokeswoman for Sheahan would not confirm that the officer admitted to helping orchestrate the plot. "If these statements prove to be true and if in fact public safety was compromised for political purposes, not only is it an all-time low in the Cook County political arena, it is a crime," spokeswoman Sally Daly said. Sheahan said Monday that the investigation would examine whether guards helped the inmates -- one convicted of murder and another charged with murder -- break out of the maximum-security division of the jail. In his initial account, the officer said he went into the shower area and removed an inmate's handcuffs and leg irons to let him shower. According to the officer, the inmate threw hot soapy water on him and held him at bay with a makeshift knife. The inmate then handcuffed the officer, put on his uniform and opened the electronic jail cell doors to let out six other inmates, according to the guard's original statements. The guard said the other inmates set fire to a mattress to lure another guard to the scene and when that second guard arrived, the inmates overpowered him and took his keys to unlock doors to a parking lot. The inmates involved in the escape are isolated right now. Investigators will be doing a full-scale re-creation of the jailbreak to help shed more light on the case. |
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