Posted on 10/30/2007 12:25:05 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
A slaying suspect who posed as his cellmate and walked out of Bexar County Jail this week has fled to Mexico, investigators said.
Wearing his cellmate's clothes, David Sauceda, 27, tricked jail personnel early Sunday into thinking he was someone else, bypassed a fingerprinting system that a jail official said Monday was "mostly sound," and walked about two blocks to the home of an acquaintance, Bexar County sheriff's Capt. Jim Rickhoff said.
The acquaintance drove Sauceda to a Northeast Side home, Rickhoff said. From there, Sauceda called a woman described as his girlfriend, who arrived with her two children, both 4 years old, and the girlfriend's friend, who drove the foursome to Nuevo Laredo, a trip captured in a video recording of the friend's car crossing the U.S.-Mexico border several hours after the escape, he said.
More than six hours passed before jail personnel learned of Sauceda's successful ruse.
"The escape was well-planned, with several people on the outside assisting," Rickhoff said. "Before the escape was discovered, he was in Mexico."
Bexar County investigators on Monday were working with the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Mexican government and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to root out the fugitive. Authorities obtained a warrant alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution and announced a $2,000 reward for information leading to Sauceda's arrest.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call (210) 472-6646.
"He has very few options. He has a tattoo on his face," Rickhoff said, noting a small tattoo of an Aztec temple that the escapee has on his chin.
Rickhoff added that authorities plan to take "appropriate action" against anyone who helped Sauceda escape.
A member of the Mexican Mafia, Sauceda used his gang affiliations to persuade Michael Garcia, a fellow gang member charged with felony auto theft, to lend him his identity, Rickhoff said. An unidentified person paid Garcia's bond, and officers went to retrieve the inmate from his cell early Sunday.
They called out Garcia's name, and Sauceda stepped forward and repeated his cellmate's personal information.
Jail personnel took Sauceda to booking, where a detention officer checked his fingerprints via a computer database. That officer matched Sauceda's face with the photograph on file but failed to notice that the name belonged to his cellmate, Bexar County Sheriff Roland Tafolla said on Sunday.
Monday, Bexar County investigators said the breach likely was the result of human error.
"I have no indication that any officer is involved in any criminal activity," Rickhoff said.
Brian Menges, director of jail administration, said no one had been disciplined for the breach because an internal investigation had not been completed. But he characterized the procedure that Sauceda managed to compromise as "mostly sound."
"The fingerprints were not properly matched. That's where it fell apart," Menges said, adding that administrators have clarified the procedure's requirements to jail personnel.
Tafolla declined comment on Monday.
Sauceda is the only inmate to escape from Bexar County Jail in at least the past five years, although there have been 161 escapes from secure custody in Texas during that time, according to data collected by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.
Sauceda had been jailed on charges of murder, parole violation, aggravated robbery and burglary with intent to commit assault.
He and his brother, Jesse Sauceda, were arrested in connection with the Nov. 9, 2006, killing of Juan Guevara, 25, who 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 inside her North Side home. She said a man had forced his way into the house after her husband left for work, taking cash, jewelry and her Ford Explorer.
Police in Corpus Christi saw the SUV the next day parked at a Motel 6, where the Sauceda brothers were staying. Jesse Sauceda surrendered, but David Sauceda ran. Police captured him that evening after a confrontation in which the fugitive warned, "You don't know who you're messing with," according to police.
Tom Smith, a supervisor with the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force, returned the sentiment on Monday.
"It's not difficult (to bring him back)," Smith said. "We do it all the time. Mexico was once a safe haven, but the criminal element hasn't realized that yet."
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bchasnoff@express-news.net
Staff Writer Bryan Chu and News Researcher Kevin Frazzini contributed to this report.
Shoot to kill.
His next cellmate should be Old Sparky.
-—Jail personnel took Sauceda to booking, where a detention officer checked his fingerprints via a computer database. That officer matched Sauceda’s face with the photograph on file but failed to notice that the name belonged to his cellmate, Bexar County Sheriff Roland Tafolla said on Sunday....”The fingerprints were not properly matched. That’s where it fell apart,” Menges said, adding that administrators have clarified the procedure’s requirements to jail personnel.-—
Failed to notice the face didn’t match the name and that the fingerprints were wrong. He has an Aztec temple tatooed on his chin! Right, just an honest mistake...
Mostly. %\ Pink slips all around, cuz those things don’t register false positives. They will register false negatives at the worst.
From another article yesterday........
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1917731/posts?page=16#16
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.”
That’s what I mean.
It’s highly unlikely for a machine to falsely match against another stored record, but more likely to claim a mis-match/no-match.
But, The officer didn’t perform the complete check (matching the name) and the guy walks free.
This is what happens when a job is performed hundreds of times with no random oversight.
Or when the fix is in.
Reward Offered For Fugitive’s Capture
POSTED: 8:55 am CDT October 30, 2007
UPDATED: 9:12 am CDT October 30, 2007
SAN ANTONIO — U.S. Marshals posted a $2,000 reward on Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of a man who escaped the Bexar County Jail by posing as a fellow inmate.
Local and state authorities have been searching for David Sauceda, a suspected Mexican Mafia member, for the past two days.
Sauceda, who was accused of killing a woman and several other crimes, is believed to be armed and dangerous.
Sheriff’s officials said Sauceda made it through several security checkpoints by using his cellmate Michael Garcia’s information.
Investigators said they believe Sauceda and his girlfriend, Angela Jaime, could be traveling to Mexico with Jaime’s two children.
Border officials on the U.S.-Mexico Border are keeping an eye out for the fugitive.
“We have deputies in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, Laredo and all throughout the border who are bilingual and work hand and glove with Mexican officials to discuss things of mutual interest,” Chief John Butler of the U.S. Marshal’s office said. “Of course this individual being brought to justice would be something of mutual interest.”
Authorities urge anyone who has information about Sauceda’s whereabout to call the U.S. Marshals office at 210-472-6646.
http://www.ksat.com/news/14456721/detail.html
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