A woman accused of assisting in the weekend escape of a Virginia inmate was arrested Tuesday after federal authorities described an elaborate plan that included the purchase of a getaway car.
Adriana Marin-Sotelo, 31, was charged with conspiracy to instigate or assist escape as the search for the man, Alder Marin-Sotelo, continued for a second day and the FBI announced a $50,000 reward for his capture.
While the relationship between the pair was unclear Tuesday, federal court records spell out how authorities believe Adriana Marin-Sotelo bought a red Ford Mustang and paid someone $2,500 to leave it in the Piedmont Regional Jail parking lot. Surveillance cameras appear to show Alder Marin-Sotelo, 26, using the car to escape from the jail in Farmville early Sunday, a criminal complaint says.
Phone calls from Alder Marin-Sotelo and others in the days before the escape revealed a scheme that also involved an unidentified inmate and that person's sibling, according to the complaint. Those two have not been charged in connection with the jail break.
The first call referred to in the complaint occurred just after noon Friday. The unidentified inmate arranged for the sibling to pick up the getaway car in High Point, North Carolina, the document says.
There were two more calls Saturday. In one at 6:04 p.m., Alder Marin-Sotelo told Adriana Marin-Sotelo to pay $2,500 to the unidentified inmate's sibling for dropping off the car at the parking lot, according to the complaint. The sibling was seen on a video call with the unidentified inmate at 10:46 p.m. showing that they were leaving the Mustang in the jail parking lot, the document says.
Surveillance cameras appear to show Alder Marin-Sotelo climbing over the jail’s fence around 1:40 a.m. Sunday, according to the complaint. Cameras again captured him leaving the jail parking lot in the Mustang about 5:40 a.m., it said.
The Prince Edward County Sheriff’s Office was not notified until around 4 a.m. Monday that Alder Marin-Sotelo and another inmate, Bruce Callahan, were missing from the jail. Callahan, 44, vanished the same day at 11:14 p.m., officials said.
It was that day that authorities interviewed the unidentified inmate and the sibling, who shared the details of the escape plan, according to the complaint.
The FBI arrested Adriana Marin-Sotelo on Tuesday, a bureau spokesperson said. She was being held in the Guilford County, North Carolina, Jail.
The FBI shared pictures of the car Alder Marin-Sotelo was last seen in and asked the public for assistance finding him, saying he "is considered extremely dangerous."
Alder Marin-Sotelo and his brother, Arturo Marin-Sotelo, were charged with murder in the Aug. 11 slaying of Wake County, North Carolina, Sheriff's Deputy Ned Byrd, according to court documents.
Alder Marin-Sotelo was also convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, according to Prince Edward officials. He is 5 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.
Callahan was convicted of “multiple federal drug charges,” the sheriff's office said. He is 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. The U.S. Marshals Service has issued a $5,000 reward for assistance in finding Callahan.
It was not known Tuesday whether the inmates’ escapes were related.
The sheriff's office, the Piedmont Regional Jail and the Marshals Service declined to respond to questions about the gap between the escapes.
