A maintenance worker charged in connection with the Orleans Parish jail escape said an inmate threatened to shank him if he did not help, court documents released Tuesday said.
Also Tuesday, a fifth escapee was captured, leaving five at large. "Five down, five to go," Louisiana State Police said in a statement.
The Orleans Parish Justice Center maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, 33, was being held at Plaquemines Parish Detention Center on charges of principle to simple escape and malfeasance in office, according to court documents.
He's accused of cutting off the water so inmates could pull the toilet from the wall, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced Tuesday in a statement. Ten inmates escaped from the Orleans Parish Justice Center early Friday.
Williams identified the inmate who he alleged threatened him as Antoine Massey, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant. Massey escaped and has not been captured. Attorney information was not immediately available for him.
A photo released by the sheriff’s office last week showed a hole in the wall behind the toilet with phrases such as “To Easy Lol” and “We Innocent” written above it.
"Williams admitted to agents that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell where the inmates escaped from," Murrill said in a news release. "Instead of reporting the inmate, Williams turned the water off as directed, allowing the inmates to carry out their scheme to successfully escape."
The affidavit says initial information indicates the inmates used an "unknown apparatus to saw steel bars" behind the cell toilet. After they bent the bars, the inmates fled to an outdoor, unsecured pipe walk area and then scaled the jail wall.
Williams told authorities he turned the water off from the outside pipe walk area, the affidavit says. He also said another inmate tried to take his phone and "attempted to get Williams to bring a book with cash app information to his cousin in the next pod over."
Without Williams’ help, the plan would have failed because removing the toilet could have flooded the cell, "drawing attention to their actions," the affidavit says.
More than 200 law enforcement personnel are assisting in the search for the five who remain at large, officials said. The latest capture brought 19-year-old Corey Boyd back into custody in New Orleans on Tuesday, Louisiana State Police said in a statement.
Boyd has been facing multiple charges, including second-degree murder, and will be taken to "a secure state facility outside of the area" and booked on suspicion of simple escape, state police said.
The reward for information leading to the capture of each man has grown to $20,000.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said at a news conference Friday that there were signs that the escape was done with the help of people "inside of our department." Three employees were placed on leave without pay. It's not clear whether Williams was one of those employees.
The escape was discovered during a routine head count around 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Video showed them pulling a cell door off its track, entering the cell and then leaving through a loading dock door. The video showed the inmates using blankets to scale a fence, the sheriff’s office said. Their clothes were found discarded.
"We will uncover all the facts eventually and anyone who aided and abetted will be prosecuted to the full extent the law allows," Murrill said in the statement Tuesday. "I encourage anyone who knows anything and even those who may have provided assistance to come forward now to obtain the best possible outcome in their particular case."
