A maintenance worker at a New Orleans jail where 10 inmates escaped has been arrested and accused of helping facilitate the breakout, officials said Tuesday.
Sterling Williams, a maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center, was arrested and booked into jail Tuesday morning, sources familiar with the arrest told ABC News.
Williams allegedly shut off the water to a toilet to help clear the way for the inmates to escape, sources said. The prisoners were able to get out after ripping the toilet off its hinges.
Williams is facing 10 counts of principle to simple escape and one count of malfeasance in office.
Three other jail employees have been suspended in this investigation.
In an interview with ABC News on Tuesday morning, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, whose office is investigating the breakout, said the mass escape was clearly an inside job.
“Even Stevie Wonder can see that this was an inside job,” Willams said. “Ten violent offenders don’t make their way into a pod made for two and make good their escape through concrete, rebar and barbed wire, without there being some sort of inside assistance.
Asked why a jail employee would risk their careers to help in the escape, Williams said, “Don’t know, greed, avarice, friendship, the motives that cause men to do bad things.”
Booking photo of Sterling Williams, a maintenance employee who was arrested for allegedly helping inmates escape from the Orleans Justice Center.
Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office
News of the employee’s arrest came as the search for six fugitives still at large went into its fifth day.
The 10 inmates were discovered missing during a routine headcount at the Orleans Justice Center at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time Friday, according to Maj. Silas Phipps with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. Initially, officials said 11 had escaped, but officials didn’t realize one had just been transferred to another cell.
The inmates are believed to have escaped from the jail around 1 a.m. on Friday, officials said.
The United States Marshals, Louisiana State Police and Probation and Parole were notified by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, the sheriff’s office said. New Orleans police officials said they were notified at 10:30 a.m.
Three of the escapees were arrested within 24 hours of the jailbreak, officials said. One was arrested after he was spotted in New Orleans’ French Quarter.
Escaped inmates Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis and Kendall Myles were all recaptured on Friday, just hours after breaking out of the jail.
The latest arrest occurred Monday when police apprehended 21-year-old Gary C. Price, according to the Louisiana State Police.
Some of the escapees began tampering with a locked cell door at 12:22 a.m. local time Friday and were seen on surveillance footage entering the cell about 20 minutes later, officials said.
The cell at Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans where inmates apparently escaped from.
Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office
The 10 inmates exited the jail through a wall behind a toilet at 1:01 a.m. on Friday, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said. They then made their way off the property through a loading dock door and scaled the perimeter wall using blankets to protect themselves from the barbed wire, according to Phipps. From there, officials said they had a clear path to the railroad tracks and then the interstate.
The arrest of the jail maintenance worker came after officials said they were investigating how the breach occurred, saying the inmates had to have received help, or at least some type of tool that enabled them to escape.
“We have the indication that these detainees received assistance in their escape from inside our department,” Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said at a May 15 news conference. “It’s almost impossible — not completely — but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help from the outside.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
