NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans jail maintenance worker has been arrested after admitting he turned water off to a toilet covering a hole in a cell wall, allowing 10 men to squeeze through the gap and escape the facility.

The inmates pulled off the daring escape from a jail early Friday by yanking open a faulty cell door, moving the toilet and slithering through the hole. Graffiti on the wall included the message “To Easy LoL,” with an arrow pointing to the gap.

Officials have underscored multiple security lapses, including ineffective cell locks and that the inmates escaped when the lone guard monitoring them went to get food. The absence of the inmates, many charged with or convicted of violent offenses such as murder, was not reported to law enforcement for hours. Four have since been apprehended and six remain at large.

During a tense New Orleans City Council meeting on Tuesday, Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson, who oversees the jail, said she “takes full accountability” for the escape.

“There were procedural failures and missed notifications, but there were also intentional wrongdoings. This was a coordinated effort aided by individuals inside our own agency who made the choice to break the law,” Hutson said. “We are continuing to pursue everyone involved.”

Responding to a question from Councilmember Oliver Thomas, Hutson said she couldn’t guarantee inmates would not be left unattended again, noting the jail is operating with 60% staffing capacity.

Arrested staffer describes his involvement in the escape
The inmates escaped by removing a sink-toilet combination unit from a cell, then cutting steel bars behind the cell room sink, Hutson said. After bending the bars they slipped out. It’s unclear what they used to saw through the bars.

Authorities believe sheriff’s employees must have helped, and three have been suspended. On Tuesday, authorities made their first staff arrest.

Maintenance worker, Sterling Williams, 33, admitted to law enforcement that one of the escapees “advised him to turn the water off in the cell” before the men slipped through the hole in the wall, the Louisiana Attorney General’s office said in a statement.

Williams is charged with 10 counts of being a principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office and is being held at the Plaquemines Parish Detention Center. Online jail records do not list an attorney who can comment on his behalf. His bond has since been set at $1.1 million. 

Why did he do it?
Williams said one of the escapees threatened to “shank” him if he did not turn off the water, according to an arrest affidavit. Another inmate tried to take Williams’ phone and attempted to get him to bring a book with cash app information.

When pressed about the alleged threat, Attorney General Liz Murrill said Williams “made some bad decisions” and that the staffer could have brought the threat and escape plan to someone’s attention.

Thomas said the sheriff’s office has a responsibility to protect employees and create a safe environment for them to report threats and other problems.

“We cannot allow the inmates to run the facilities. That can’t happen,” Thomas said. “We cannot allow them to threaten the men and women who work there.”

The affidavit says Williams “willfully and maliciously assisted with the escape” and that without his help they would have flooded the cell and drawn attention to their escape efforts.

Murrill told reporters Tuesday that no additional charges have been filed against other employees but that the investigation continues and “there could be more arrests.”

Delays and ongoing security concerns
Officials have pointed to other security lapses before, during and after the jailbreak.

On Tuesday, New Orleans officials grilled the sheriff’s office about why there was an hourslong delay in reporting the escape.

While a head count of inmates normally starts around 6:30 a.m. and takes less than an hour, sheriff’s officials said they were still verifying whether inmates had escaped more than two hours later. Jeworski “Jay” Mallet, the jail’s Chief of Corrections, said their inability to verify the escape led to the delay.

City and state police did not find out about the escape until around 10:30 a.m., more than nine hours later.

Local police should have been notified immediately because they have “exponentially vaster” resources to track down the inmates, Councilmember J.P. Morrell said.

“There were failures, failures in our personnel,” Hutson said.

Many state and local officials say blame rests squarely on Hutson.

“As sheriff I take fully accountability for this failure,” she told the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday. “Our community deserves answers and more importantly it deserves action.”

Still on the lam
Six of the fugitives remain on the run. Many of them were in jail awaiting trial or sentencing, including several men charged with murder.

According to NOLA.com, the men still on the lose were in the jail on the following charges: 

Lenton Vanburen, 26 – Charged with second-degree murder and armed robbery for November 2021 homicide in New Orleans East; competency hearing set for May 29. 
Antoine Massey, 32 – Booked in March on vehicle theft and domestic abuse battery; also wanted in St. Tammany Parish on suspicion of rape and kidnapping. A judge issued a protective order in Orleans Parish and he had not entered a plea before Friday's escape.
Derrick Groves, 27 – Convicted of killing two men on Mardi Gras Day 2018 in the Ninth Ward; awaiting sentencing.
Leo Tate, 31 – Pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges in 2021 after a 19-year-old was killed and a 16-year-old was hospitalized following a 2018 Seventh Ward shooting; sentenced to 10 years.
Jermain Donald, 42 – Charged with December 2023 second-degree murder and possession of a firearm, among other charges.
Corey Boyd, 19 – Accused of killing a witness who caught him and two others trying to break into a car in the Marigny in April 2024.

The four other inmates were apprehended over the last four days.

Kendell Myles, 20, was recaptured Friday in the French Quarter by Louisiana State Police, NOLA.com reports. Myles was one of six who escaped the Bridge City Center for Youth in 2022 and police said that Myles carjacked and non-fatally shot a 59-year-old Uptown man.

Robert Moody, 21, was arrested Sunday evening in Mid-City after a Crime Stoppers tip. Moody was incarcerated after being arrested on a variety of drug and gun charges in 2023, as well as a 2024 obscenity charge. NOLA.com reports he plead not guilty to all of them. 

Dkenan Dennis, 24, was captured Sunday near Chef Menteur Highway and Dale Street. NOLA.com reports that he was charged last month with armed robbery and second-degree kidnapping. 

Gary C. Price, 21, was arrested Monday in New Orleans East and was in jail for an attempted first-degree murder on May 6. He did not enter a plea before his escape on Friday. 

“There are witnesses and victims, and all of those people are very, rightfully, unnerved by all of this,” Murrill said.

The sheriff’s office says more than 200 law enforcement personnel are part of the search. Rewards of up to $20,000 are being offered for information leading to the capture of each escapee.

Massey, who is identified in the affidavit as the inmate who threatened to stab Williams, is one of the men still at large. According to the Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Office, Massey also escaped from a jail in northeast Louisiana in 2019 and was recaptured the same day in a town in Texas, some 300 miles (480 kilometers) away.

“He was in the exercise yard and somehow cut part of the chain-link fence, enough to shimmy through the hole,” Morehouse Parish Sheriff Chief Deputy James Mardis said, adding that an accomplice was waiting with a car.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said she believes most of the escapees are within city limits. Officials have warned that anyone aiding the fugitives will face charges.

Meanwhile, 60 inmates at the ailing jail facility have been transferred to more secure state prisons.