Sheriff's Office employee arrested, facing charges in connection with Louisiana inmate escape
An Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee has been arrested and is facing charges in connection with the escape of 10 inmates, the Louisiana Attorney General's Office confirmed Tuesday.
Sources confirm to sister station WDSU that the employee, a maintenance worker named Sterling Williams, was booked on principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office.
Sources told WDSU the employee admitted to turning off the water so the toilet could be removed from the wall in the cell. Sources told WDSU Williams was forced to help the inmates.
Sources say the employee was also caught on surveillance video handing a phone to an escaped inmate.
Court documents show Williams told authorities that Antoine Massey, one of the escaped inmates, threatened to shank him if he didn't turn the water off to the cell.
Williams was seen on surveillance talking with Massey, Derrick Groves, and another inmate.
According to court documents, Williams said Groves tried to take his phone and asked him to bring a book with Cash app information to his cousin in a pod over.
"By turning off the water to cell 6 bottom in the 1D dorm, Williams willfully and maliciously assisted with the escape of the 10 inmates. With the water being turned off, the inmates were able to successfully make good on their escapes. Williams admitted to agents he committed the acts after he was directed to do so by one of the inmates who escaped, Antoine Massey," court documents read.
Court documents show Williams did not report the inmate's plan to escape, and did not come forward initially after being questioned by agents.
Sheriff Susan Hutson confirmed last week that three employees were suspended without pay in connection with the investigation into the escape.
“It’s almost impossible, not completely, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility without help,” Hutson said of the Orleans Justice Center, a correctional facility where 1,400 people are being held.
The inmates escaped through a hole in a wall behind the toilet in the early hours of Friday while the lone guard watching them went to get food. This guard was not the employee arrested, Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office, told the Associated Press in a text message.
Duhe did not provide the name of the person arrested.
At least one of the steel bars protecting plumbing fixtures “appeared to have been intentionally cut using a tool,” the sheriff’s office stated.
The inmates quickly shed their uniforms and changed into regular clothes.
The absence of the inmates, many charged with or convicted of violent offenses such as murder, was not reported for hours. Four have since been apprehended and six remain at large.
Since the escape, Hutson has pointed to long-standing deficiencies such as faulty locks and staffing shortages. But a growing number of state and local officials have said blame for the escape rests squarely on her for failing her responsibility to keep inmates locked up.
The New Orleans City Council is scheduled to discuss the jail break with the sheriff's office and other authorities at a Tuesday meeting.
