An employee at a New Orleans jail where ten inmates escaped has been detained and charged with assisting in the escape.
Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the Orleans Parish Justice Center, was taken into custody and faces charges including ten counts of aiding in simple escape and malfeasance. He was held at the Plaquemines Parish Detention Center.
Williams reportedly confessed to investigators that one of the escapees, Antoine Massey, directed him to turn off the water supply in the cell from which the inmates fled. Instead of alerting authorities, Williams complied with the request and shut off the water, facilitating the inmates’ escape plan.
According to the affidavit, initial information indicates the inmates used an unknown device to cut through steel bars behind the cell toilet. After breaching the bars, they moved out to an outdoor pipe walk area and then scaled the jail wall.
Williams stated that he turned off the water from outside the pipe walk area.
The affidavit notes that without Williams’ help, the escape might have failed, as removing the toilet could have caused flooding and drawn attention to their actions.
As of Tuesday morning, authorities had recaptured four of the escapees—Robert Moody, Dkenan Dennis, Kendall Myles, and Gary C. Price—while six remained at large.
The inmates escaped early Friday at around 1:01 a.m., exiting through a loading dock door, then climbing over the perimeter wall using blankets to hide themselves from barbed wire. From there, they had an unobstructed route to nearby railroad tracks and the interstate.
