Authorities put out a call Monday for the public’s help to locate a 25-year-old inmate who walked away from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility in Acton.
Authorities at Acton Conservation Camp #11 discovered during an inmate count at about 9 p.m. Sunday that Erick Mendiola was missing, according to a CDCR statement. A search of camp buildings and grounds was conducted immediately afterward, but he was not found.
Mendiola, who was last seen at the camp at about 7 p.m., was described as Hispanic, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 215 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.
CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety, the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County Fire and Sheriff’s departments were assisting in the search for Mendiola, who was committed to the CDCR on Oct. 22, 2019, from Stanislaus County to serve a six-year sentence for evading a peace officer while driving recklessly and second-degree robbery.
He was scheduled for parole on March 1, 2022, according to CDCR officials.
Since 1977, 99% of all offenders who have left an adult institution, camp or community-based program without permission have been apprehended, according to a CDCR statement.
Anyone with information of Mendiola’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Acton Conservation Camp’s commander, Lt. D.E. Foote, at 661-268-0113.