Earlier Escapee May Have Helped 6 Juveniles to Flee

Six teen-age violent crime suspects who fled from the Los Angeles County Central Juvenile Hall after a car smashed through a security gate may have been aided by a youth who escaped from the facility a week ago, a police investigator said Saturday.

Los Angeles Police Detective Robert Suter criticized juvenile detention officials for allowing the six escapees to wander into an unsecured section of the facility.

Suter said that Berry Mortis, 17, who escaped from the hall a week ago, has been linked by investigators to one of two cars used during the daring Friday morning jailbreak.

A 1981 Chevy station wagon that had been stolen recently from the Mid-Wilshire area of Los Angeles was used to crash through a utility gate on the north side of the hall, Suter said.

Suter identified the escapee who knew Mortis as Francisco Javier Camacho, 18, who faces trial as an adult on charges of kidnaping, rape and robbery. Camacho, like Mortis, lives in the Wilshire area, Suter said.

The detective also said that police hoped to learn how the six escapees managed to get near the utility gate, which is used as an entrance for fire trucks and other vehicles. “They obviously should have been in a secure area,” Suter said.

Michael Brown, the assistant superintendent of the facility on Eastlake Avenue in Lincoln Heights, denied that the escapees had been in an unsecured area. According to Brown, the six were among 31 youths who were participating in an outdoor physical education class when the escape occurred about 9:30 a.m.

“They were all some distance from the gate, but they were still in a secure area,” Brown said.

After the first car rammed the utility gate, the six youths fled the facility and into a second car.

Brown said hall officials have repaired the battered gate and were planning to reinforce it to prevent car rammings. Brown added that the facility’s security staff has been beefed up to monitor the remaining inmates, who have been moved to the sleeping quarters, the most secure area of the hall.

According to Suter, four of the escapees were youths facing murder trials. Hugo Roman and Alvino Martinez, both 18, and Joseph Van Matthews, 17, were awaiting trial as adults.

Francisco Gallegos, 17, faced a disposition hearing to determine whether he would be charged as an adult or juvenile, police said. Yobanbi Luna, 17, also was facing a disposition trial on what Suter described as a terrorism charge.