Arrested New Orleans jail worker says he helped inmates to escape after stabbing threat

NEW ORLEANS AP A New Orleans jail maintenance worker has been arrested and is being held on a million bond after admitting he turned water off to a toilet covering a hole in a cell wall allowing men to squeeze through the gap in one of the largest jailbreaks in contemporary U S history The inmates pulled off the daring escape from a jail early Friday by yanking open a faulty cell door moving the toilet and slithering through the hole Graffiti on the wall included the message To Easy LoL with an arrow pointing to the gap On Tuesday evening state police established that Corey Boyd became the fifth of the escapees to be apprehended Boyd is accused of killing a person who caught him and others trying to break into a car in April the Times-Picayune NOLA com informed allegedly striking the victim with a conveyance before someone else shot the person He has has been charged with second-degree murder and pleaded not guilty Representatives have underscored multiple shield lapses including ineffective cell locks and that the inmates escaped when the lone guard monitoring them went to get food The absence of the inmates numerous charged with or convicted of violent offenses such as murder was not shared to law enforcement for hours Five remain at large During a tense New Orleans City Council meeting on Tuesday Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson who oversees the jail reported she takes full accountability for the escape There were procedural failures and missed notifications but there were also intentional wrongdoings This was a coordinated effort aided by individuals inside our own agency who made the choice to break the law Hutson commented We are continuing to pursue everyone involved Responding to a question from Councilmember Oliver Thomas Hutson explained she couldn t guarantee inmates would not be left unattended again noting the jail is operating with staffing threshold Arrested staffer describes his involvement in the escape The inmates escaped by removing a sink-toilet combination unit from a cell then cutting steel bars behind the cell room sink Hutson announced After bending the bars they slipped out It s unclear what they used to saw through the bars Officers believe sheriff s employees helped and three have been suspended On Tuesday personnel made their first staff arrest Maintenance worker Sterling Williams admitted that one of the escapees advised him to turn the water off in the cell before the men slipped through the hole the Louisiana Attorney General s office explained in a declaration Williams is charged with counts of principle to simple escape and one count of malfeasance in office with a bond per charge Michael Kennedy Williams appointed attorney announced that at this time we have every intention of entering a plea of not guilty Several of Williams family members did not respond to requests for comment Why did he do it Williams noted one of the escapees threatened to shank him if he did not turn off the water according to an arrest affidavit Another inmate tried to take Williams phone and attempted to get him to bring a book with cash app information Attorney General Liz Murrill explained Williams made a few bad decisions and that he should have brought the threat and escape plan to someone s attention Thomas declared the sheriff s office has a responsibility to protect employees and create a safe setting for them to review threats and other problems We cannot allow the inmates to run the facilities That can t happen Thomas reported We cannot allow them to threaten the men and women who work there The affidavit says Williams willfully and maliciously assisted with the escape and that without his help they would have flooded the cell and drawn attention to their escape efforts Murrill notified reporters Tuesday that no additional charges have been filed against other employees but that the review continues and there could be more arrests Delays and ongoing safety concerns Representatives have pointed to other safeguard lapses before during and after the jailbreak On Tuesday New Orleans officers grilled the sheriff s office about why there was an hourslong delay in reporting the escape While a head count of inmates normally starts around a m and takes less than an hour sheriff s representatives declared they were still verifying whether inmates had escaped more than two hours later according to Jeworski Jay Mallett the jail s chief of corrections City and state police did not find out about the escape until around a m more than nine hours later Local police who have exponentially vaster guidance to track down the inmates should have been notified straightaway Councilmember J P Morrell noted There were failures failures in our personnel Hutson explained Various state and local officers say blame rests squarely on Hutson As sheriff I take full accountability for this failure she described the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday Our district deserves answers and more importantly it deserves action Still on the lam Five of the fugitives remain on the run Plenty of of them were in jail awaiting trial or sentencing including for murder charges There are onlookers and casualties and all of those people are very rightfully unnerved by all of this Murrill declared The sheriff s office says more than law enforcement personnel are part of the search Up to is being offered for information leading to the capture of each escapee Antoine Massey who is identified in the affidavit as the inmate who threatened to stab Williams is one of the men still at large According to the Morehouse Parish Sheriff s Office Massey also escaped from a jail in northeast Louisiana in and was recaptured the same day in a town in Texas specific miles kilometers away He was in the exercise yard and somehow cut part of the chain-link fence enough to shimmy through the hole Morehouse Parish Sheriff Chief Deputy James Mardis revealed adding that an accomplice was waiting with a car Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department mentioned she believes majority of the escapees are within city limits Officers have warned that anyone aiding the fugitives will face charges Meanwhile around inmates at the ailing jail facility have been transferred to more secure state prisons