The investigation into last week’s daring escape of ten inmates from the Orleans Parish Justice Center continues to unfold, with a fourth arrest announced yesterday. Connie Weeden, 59, of Slidell, Louisiana, is now facing felony charges for allegedly aiding escaped inmate Jermaine Donald. Authorities say Weeden maintained contact with Donald before and after the escape, even providing him with cash via a mobile payment app. Donald remains one of five inmates still at large.
This latest arrest follows the apprehension of three other individuals linked to the jailbreak. Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was arrested on Monday for allegedly disabling the water supply to the cell the inmates used to escape. He’s accused of removing a toilet from the wall, providing access for the inmates to breach the cell. Two other individuals, 32-year-old Cortnie Harris and 38-year-old Corvanntay Baptiste, were arrested on Wednesday on charges of being accessories after the fact.
The escape itself, which occurred in the early morning hours of May 16th, was a brazen and well-planned operation. Surveillance footage captured the inmates removing a cell door from its hinges and breaking through a wall. They then scaled a fence separating the jail from a nearby construction site and ran across a busy freeway, escaping undetected for over seven hours. The escape wasn’t discovered until approximately 8:30 a.m. on May 19th.
Five of the ten escaped inmates have been apprehended, leaving a continued manhunt for the remaining five. Weeden is currently being held at the St. Tammany Parish Correctional Center, awaiting trial. The investigation is ongoing, and further arrests are certainly possible as authorities continue to piece together the details of this remarkable jailbreak. The incident has raised serious questions about security protocols at the Orleans Parish Justice Center and sparked calls for significant reforms to prevent similar incidents in the future.
