Armed inmate escapes from Crystal City prison

Web Posted: 09/28/2007 11:56 PM CDT

Sara Ines Calderon
Express-News Staff Writer

CRYSTAL CITY — Law enforcement officials combed Zavala County on Thursday searching for an armed felon who escaped from the Crystal City Correctional Center after taking a shotgun from a guard.

Vicente Jaimez Hernández, a 29-year-old Mexican national, escaped about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday when he crawled up air ducts to the roof of the city-owned detention center for federal inmates, according to Fernando Karl, assistant chief of the U.S. Marshals Service in San Antonio.

He overpowered a female guard and took her shotgun but did not shoot her, Karl said. He could not say if she was injured.

Though the investigation is continuing, Karl said there seems to be no evidence that Jaimez had an accomplice inside the prison.

Federal, state and local authorities scoured the region in helicopters, on horseback and with dogs. Police handed out fliers all over Crystal City, warning about the escape and Jaimez's dangerous past.

Jaimez had been convicted of an armed carjacking in Austin and had been sentenced to more than 30 years, Karl said. In 2004, he was convicted of illegal entry near Del Rio and has previous arrests for kidnapping, weapons violations and burglary, according to the Marshals Service.

Many of Jaimez's family and friends live in the Austin area, Karl said, adding that police and the sheriff's office there have been alerted to the escape.

"I think it would be 50-50" whether Jaimez would head north to Austin or south to Mexico, Karl said. "Because he's got all his family up north, but being that he's on the run, it would be a logical choice to head south."

Officers from several law enforcement agencies, including the Texas Department of Corrections, the Zavala County Sheriffs Office, the Marshals Service and the Border Patrol, set up roadblocks at every highway intersection warning drivers not to pick up hitchhikers. Officers checked truck beds and car trunks.

Searchers were concentrating in the area surrounding Crystal City because there didn't appear to be a car involved in the escape, Karl said.

Schools, day care centers and banks were on lockdown in Crystal City, where residents seemed cautious, according to Martha Salinas, manager at Mr. B's, a convenience store off U.S. 83.

"People are concerned about him breaking into their houses," Salinas said.

But not everyone was as wary of Jaimez's armed escape.

Crystal City native Nora Guerrero and her family were barbecuing in the city's Juan GarcÃ*a Park on Thursday afternoon. She said despite the school, day care and bank closures, she and her family were going to enjoy the picnic they had planned.

Besides, said her husband Saúl, there wasn't that much to worry about.

"The border's only 50 miles away. If it happened last night, he's already home," he said.

scalderon@express-news.net

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