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| Officers Investigate How New Mexico Escapees Got Tools |
| By Albuquerque Journal |
| Published: 04/10/2001 |
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An investigation into the escape of three federal inmates from the privately run Santa Fe County Detention Center late Saturday focused on how the prisoners got access to the tools they used in their breakout, authorities said recently. The three men, all awaiting trial of federal drug trafficking charges, remain at large. Saturday's escape was the latest in a series of publicized problems at the county lockup, which also serves as a holding facility for federal prisoners. Santa Fe County Sheriff Ray Sisneros said his office was taking the lead in the investigation and was working with the U.S. Marshal's Service and Cornell Cos. to determine how the escapees obtained a hacksaw, a hammer and a metal punch. 'It's obvious that they had help of some kind,' said Sisneros. 'We always look at the possibility of an inside job, but we don't know yet.' Acting U.S. Marshal Tom Bustamante also said the possibility of an inside job had not been ruled out. 'We are currently investigating whether there was any involvement of personnel at the facility. You just can't get those items in that easily,' Bustamante said. Bustamante said the escape occurred about 9:45 p.m. Saturday while the inmates were allowed into a common area surrounded by 12 cells. Cornell spokesman Paul Doucette said the cells routinely are open to the common area, which has a television set, between 9 and 11 p.m. Doucette identified the escapees, all awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges, as Vicente Tijerina, 30, Louis Santana, 41, and Rudolfo Garcia, 27. Doucette said the men escaped after they cut and bent some metal bars and pushed out a window in one of the cells adjacent to the common area. The tools were left in the cell. Bustamante said the men scaled a security fence once they sawed through the bars and knocked out the window. 'We were able to track them utilizing dogs for a half-mile to one mile up to I-25, where the dogs lost the scent. We feel they may have gotten a ride at that point,' Bustamante said. Sisneros said the dogs followed that scent to a point on N.M. 14, where authorities believe they left in a waiting vehicle. 'It's an obvious indication that there was a car waiting for them,' Sisneros said. Although New Mexico State Police and sheriff's deputies searched for the trio, 'it's probable they were gone from the area before anyone knew they were missing,' the sheriff said. |
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