Sheriff's Office investigates escape from Monterey County Jail
All apprehended within half an hour of fleeing Monterey County Jail
BY SUNITA VIJAYAN • svijayan@thecalifornian.com • July 3, 2009

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office said it is still investigating the circumstances surrounding Thursday morning's escape of three inmates, one of whom faces murder charges, from the main jail facility.

Cmdr. Mike Richards said this is the first forced escape from the main jail since 1995.

Angel Ocampo, 18, Jorge Andrade Rico, 28, and Ezequiel Gonzalez, 32, experienced freedom for half an hour before they were captured at 10 a.m. by deputies in three separate locations in east Salinas.

Richards said escapes are usually more common at the jail's minimum security Adult Rehabilitation Facility, where inmates are not as thoroughly scrutinized.

He said there are 597 inmates at the main jail. An additional 423 are at the rehabilitation facility, which houses inmates serving sentences of less than a year.


At 9:30 a.m., Richards said, a deputy radioed jail staff after noticing the three men crawl through a 9-inch-by-21-inch hole at the bottom of the 13-foot high fence surrounding the exercise yard. The area is atop the two-story facility at 1410 Natividad Road in Salinas.


Aided by the California Highway Patrol, county probation officers and Salinas police, officers tracked down and Tased Rico in the face on Constitution Boulevard near Natividad Medical Center, he said. Deputies caught up with one of the men near the Regional Occupation Program at the county’s Laurel Drive Complex, and the other inmate was taken into custody at Natividad Creek Park. Richards said Rico was tased after failing to heed the deputy’s orders to stop running. Richards said investigators are figuring out how a hole in the fence was made and whether the escaped inmates are responsible. An “Escape Review Boardâ€