Four Inmates Faked a Fight to Escape Florida Juvenile Detention Center
Four teenage inmates staged a fight inside their dorm-style cell late Saturday night at a Florida juvenile detention center as a ruse to escape, overpowering staff and stealing a staff member’s car and a cell phone as they fled.
Two of teens who escaped from the Florida Department of Juvenile justice facility in Jacksonville, remained at large Sunday and a manhunt was underway to apprehend them.
According to a tweet from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the four inmates faked a brawl in their room and then attacked the staff who responded to the scuffle.
The boys were then able to overpower staff in the center’s control room and pushed several buttons until one released the jail’s main door. The boys then stole car keys from the handbag of one of the staff members and made off in the dark of the night with the a four-door Infiniti Q50 with Florida license plate LANE19.
The foursome also took the staff member’s county-issued cellphone and wallet with an unknown amount of cash.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s office named the escapees still at large as Tajah Bing, 16, Davione Baldwin, 17. Tyjuan Monroe, 16, and Marcus Ledbetter, 17, were captured early Sunday morning.
The inmates were serving jail time for offenses ranging from grand theft auto to robbery with a firearm and are considered dangerous, though are not known to be armed. One was serving time for “lewd and lascivious” behavior with a child under the age of 12-years-old.
The Jacksonville sheriff’s office has offered an award up to $3,000 for information that leads to the capture of the escaped individuals noting that the boys “could be anywhere.”
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