An accused murderer and two other California prisoners were still at large on Sunday after breaking out of the Orange County jail as a massive manhunt for the trio entered its third day, authorities said.
Southern California and federal authorities are searching for Hossein Nayeri, 37, Jonathan Tieu, 20, and Bac Duong, 43, who escaped the jail in Orange County and were last seen early Friday morning, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a statement on Sunday.
“The three escapees … are dangerous criminals,” she said.
The trio cut through a steel grate inside their cell, climbed through a plumbing tunnel and up to the roof of the facility. They used bedsheets to lower themselves down four stories before disappearing, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jeff Hallock.
“There were about four or five other security breaches that occurred inside the plumbing tunnels and steel that they had to cut before they got to the roof,” he said.
Hallock said that it is unclear how long exactly the inmates worked on their escape plan before they broke loose.
“This is very apparent that this was a planned escape that could have been worked on for weeks or months,” he said. “This was a very sophisticated escape.”
Hallock said the men could be armed, but declined to disclose what mode of transportation they may be using. He also said authorities are investigating whether the prisoners had help inside or outside the jail.
The daring jailbreak recalled the escape of two convicted murderers from a maximum-security prison in upstate New York last year. A three-week manhunt for the pair ended with the fatal shooting of one of the inmates and the capture of the second a mile from the Canadian border.
Nayeri, an Iranian, is one of four people accused of kidnapping and torturing a marijuana dispensary owner, the Register said. He has been held in the jail without bail since September 2014 after being arrested by the FBI in Prague.
Tieu has been held at the facility since October 2013, charged with a murder that authorities believe was gang-related.
Duong has been held at the jail without bail since last month, charged with attempted murder and other counts.