Nine inmates escape Yakima County Jail
Published 9:00 pm Friday, November 25, 2005
YAKIMA – Nine Yakima County Jail inmates used a rope made of bedsheets to escape Friday evening, authorities said.
Five were recaptured before they could leave the jail grounds, said Will Paulakis, a Yakima County Corrections Department division chief.
The other four, including a 20-year-old man charged with second-degree murder, were being hunted by sheriff’s officers, city police, the U.S. Marshal Service and corrections officers, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.
All were maximum security inmates, Paulakis said.
In addition to Santos Luera, awaiting trial Dec. 5 on a charge of shooting his half-brother during an argument, the inmates still at large included one man charged with burglary and two in custody on second-degree assault allegations. All were wearing blue jail coveralls.
Authorities were trying to determine how the nine made their way from their dorm unit, on the top floor of the four-story main jail, to the roof, Paulakis said.
From that roof, they used bed sheets to slide down to the roof of the adjacent one-story jail annex, then jumped to the ground. Several were caught on the annex roof and climbed down a ladder to be met by Yakima police. A corrections officer caught another inmate next to the jail building, Paulakis said.
No injuries were reported.
The jailbreak occurred about 5:20 p.m.
Some streets were blocked off in the area and officers asked nearby businesses to be on the alert.
The jail is located near the old train station in downtown Yakima.
In addition to Luera, the inmates still missing Friday night were identified as Luis Soto, 28, of Toppenish; Gianno Alaimo, 26, of Yakima; and Terry Moser, 25, of Yakima. Soto was charged with residential burglary, while Alaimo and Moser were in custody for investigation of second-degree assault.
Four inmates escaped the main jail on June 5, 1994, by ramming a hole in the dormitory ceiling, the newspaper reported. They made their way through ductwork to a roof vent, then used another bedsheet rope to reach the annex roof. The makeshift rope broke, injuring two inmates who fell. Two of the inmates fled to Mexico, where one of them was killed in a gunfight; the other was eventually captured.
