Three inmates who orchestrated a brazen escape from the Men’s Central Jail in Orange County and remained on the run for more than a week appeared in court Friday on additional charges related to the breakout.
Hossein Nayeri, 37, Bac Tien Duong, 43, and Jonathan Tieu, 20, were initially charged with a felony count of escape. Charges of stealing a vehicle and kidnapping to commit robbery, also felonies, were added Friday, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Nichols.
The trio’s arraignment was rescheduled to April 22.
The three escaped sometime between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Jan. 22, according to authorities. Sheriff’s officials said the men cut through a steel grate, half-inch steel bars and plumbing tunnels before making their way to an unsecured part of the jail’s roof and using makeshift ropes to rappel several floors to the ground.
Duong called a cab after the escape and the trio was picked up in Westminster. They directed the driver to take them to a Target department store in Westminster and another in Rosemead, and then later drive them to a nearby home, where Duong allegedly took a gun from Tieu, which was used to rob the victim of his cell phone and keys, according to prosecutors.
The driver was ordered into the back seat, where his wallet was taken and the inmates used his driver’s license to rent motel rooms, prosecutors allege.
On Jan. 23, Duong allegedly met with a van owner who was selling the vehicle on Craigslist and then kept going during a test drive.
The three drove in the van northbound to San Jose, where Duong split with the other two on Jan. 29 and went back to Orange County with the cab driver, according to prosecutors.
The white van was spotted on Jan. 30 in San Francisco, leading to the arrests of Nayeri and Tieu.
Before the breakout, Nayeri was in jail awaiting trial for a bizarre case involving the kidnapping, torture and castration of a marijuana dispensary owner in October 2012.
Tieu was arrested with multiple defendants in what prosecutors alleged was a gang-related fatal shooting outside a Garden Grove pool hall on March 20, 2011, according to his attorney, David Swanson, who argued in his client’s first trial that the defendant was just along with a group and did not know there would be a shooting.
Tieu was scheduled to be retried for the shooting, for the murder of Scottie Bui and attempted murder of Roger James.
Duong was facing charges of possession of a firearm by a felon, theft with a prior felony conviction of driving or taking of a vehicle, and, in a separate case, was charged with attempted murder in November of last year.
Duong pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge Jan. 15. Duong is accused of trying to kill a man and assaulting him with a firearm, as well as firing a gun at residence on Highland Street in Santa Ana, according to court records.
— City News Service