Tip leads to arrest of escapees

Associated Press

SANTA ANA, CALIF.

After a week with SWAT raids and a gang dragnet, it was an observant citizen who led police to the two remaining violent fugitives who broke out of a California jail eight days ago using a Google Earth map and a rope made of bed linens.

The man flagged down officers near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park just before 9 a.m. Saturday and pointed out a parked white van that looked like one believed stolen by the trio of inmates during the brazen escape, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said at a news conference. The man also said someone who looked like one of the fugitives was in the area.

Police approached and Hossein Nayeri, the suspected mastermind of the jail break, was captured after a short foot chase. Police discovered the second fugitive, 20-year-old Jonathan Tieu, hiding in the van with ammunition but no gun, she said. He surrendered without incident.

“I think I did a big ‘Whoop!’ in the air,” Hutchens said, describing her excitement about the arrests. “No sheriff wants to have an escape, especially as dangerous as these individuals were. My fear was that someone in the community was going to get hurt because they really had nothing to lose in my mind.”

A third inmate, Bac Duong, 43, surrendered Friday after walking into an auto repair shop in Santa Ana just a few miles from the jail where the trio had been housed. He told police he had been with the others in San Jose, and the search immediately shifted to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Authorities were interviewing the inmates, hoping to fill the many holes about the escape and their week on the run.

The three did not know each other before being housed in the Orange County jail. They were awaiting trial on charges including murder, attempted murder, torture and kidnapping.