Posted on 10/28/2007 7:31:51 PM PDT by skully
SAN ANTONIO — A man facing charges of murder, aggravated robbery and burglary with intent to commit assault escaped from Bexar County Jail on Sunday after assuming the identity of another inmate, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
“David Sauceda, 27, was able to walk out of jail Sunday when he recited the name, address and Social Security number of another inmate, Michael Garcia. Sauceda left jail around 1 a.m., according to the sheriff’s department.”
So, is this not a reason to require photo ID to VOTE?
My name is juan, juan valdez.
Front of the line Mr. Valdez, we know it’s you based on your verbal verification.?????
Idiocy, pure idiocy....
Hard to believe......
This is the security we have against murderers????
Why would they think he’s lying? He was arrested for killing, not lying!
/A SARC TAG THAT SHOULDN’T BE NECESSARY
Okay, I have to give this guy credit for having large, clanking brass gonads.
Nah. He just knew that the prison authorities were, well, stupid.
“See ya Gomer, I’m walking out.”
What did he have to lose if it didn't work?
you get what you pay for.
I saw this on a cop tv show. At least a variation of it.
I think I saw this in a movie once. Come to think of it, it was more than once.
Slaying suspect walks out of Bexar jail
Web Posted: 10/29/2007 12:51 AM CDT
Sheriff Roland Tafolla vowed Sunday to re-examine every aspect of release procedures at Bexar County Jail after a slaying suspect walked out of jail Sunday morning after passing himself off as his cellmate.
David Sauceda had been on the loose for more than six hours before authorities realized he was missing. Despite a multi-agency manhunt, stretching to the border, Sauceda remained at large Sunday night.
"We have no idea where he is," Tafolla said Sunday night.
Sauceda, who was charged with murder, aggravated robbery, burglary with intent to commit assault and a parole violation, is considered armed and dangerous; law enforcement officials ask that the public not confront him but call police if they have any information on his whereabouts.
The 27-year-old has a small tattoo of an Aztec temple on his chin that he got from the cellmate, Michael Garcia, while in jail, authorities said. Sauceda is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds. He has short brown hair and was wearing a white muscle shirt, blue shorts and white tennis shoes at the time of his escape at 1:30 a.m.
Sauceda posed as Garcia, who is in jail on a felony auto theft charge.
A person who had not been identified Sunday night paid Garcia's bond amount, and officers went to retrieve him, the sheriff said. But when they called Garcia's name, Sauceda stepped forward and repeated his cellmate's personal information. Believing him to be Garcia, officers took Sauceda to booking.
When a detention officer checked Sauceda's fingerprints via a computer database, the officer matched his face with the photo on file but, according to the sheriff, failed to notice that the name belonged to his cellmate, Michael Garcia, who allegedly was conspiring with Sauceda.
How Sauceda managed to penetrate the elaborate computer scanning program — meant to streamline a prisoner's release while acting as an integrity check of the prisoner's identification — with a seemingly simple ruse will be a top priority, authorities said.
"We're going to look at everything," Tafolla said.
Tafolla, who took office Sept. 19, took full responsibility.
"We made an error," he said Sunday afternoon. "I am responsible for everything that happens in the Sheriff's Office."
Tafolla said Sauceda and Garcia are members of the Mexican Mafia. Garcia apparently gave all his personal information to Sauceda — address, birth date, Social Security number and system ID number — while giving up his own freedom.
"He had it down pat," Tafolla said.
While in booking, Sauceda was fingerprinted. His prints were supposed to be checked against those on file, Tafolla said, but they came out smudged, so a sergeant ordered a detention officer to check his fingerprints using LiveScan, the jail's electronic fingerprint system.
"So he takes him over, scans his fingerprint, looks at the picture, looks at him, and says, 'It's him,' but doesn't look at the name."
It wasn't until about 8 a.m. that other officers realized Sauceda was missing.
If human error was involved in the escape, the sheriff said, sanctions for those involved could run from reprimand to termination.
Law enforcement at every level has been notified, including U.S. marshals and the FBI.
"He's long gone," said Adan Muñoz, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Muñoz said re-identifying an inmate before his release is internal policy, not a state jail standard. He said procedures could be slightly different at each jail in the state.
"It looks like somebody screwed up big-time," said County Judge Nelson Wolff, who heads the Commissioners Court, which has oversight of the Sheriff's Office. "We're going to want to know how it happened, of course."
Sauceda and his brother, Jesse Sauceda, were charged in the killing of Juan Guevara. On Nov. 9, 2006, Guevara, 25, was found shot in the head in front of his home at Casa Verde and Casa Alto streets. Witnesses reported seeing two men standing over Guevara's body and then using his car to back over him.
Six days later, a 59-year-old woman was found bound with duct tape in her home in the 400 block of Dresden Road. She said a man had pushed his way into her home just after her husband left for work. After taking cash, an ATM card and jewelry, he took off in her Ford Explorer.
Police in Corpus Christi saw the SUV the next day parked at a Motel 6.
After being surrounded by a SWAT team, Jesse Sauceda, David Sauceda's brother, came out. But David Sauceda ran. He was taken into custody that evening at a convenience store. Jesse Sauceda is still in custody.
Police are also seeking Angela Jaime as a person of interest in the case. Jaime, according to police, and her two children, are believed to be with Garcia.
While there have been many attempted escapes from Bexar County Jail since it opened in 1988, most were foiled.
thamilton@express-news.netStaff Writer Brian Chasnoff and News Researcher Mike Knoop contributed to this report.
>you get what you pay for.
Or, as it shows in this case, not.
Put another way, my 4 year old is smarter than that.
My name: Jose Jimenez
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