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         5 Arrested as Search for Escaped California Inmates Continues

   by VOA News

   U.S. officials have arrested five people in connection with a daring
   California prison break in which three maximum-security inmates escaped
   and remain at large.  More arrests are expected.

   Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she believes the inmates had
   assistance from the outside and that the investigation is focusing on a
   local Vietnamese gang.

   "They had to have had help," Hutchens said late Wednesday.

   The three inmates rappelled off a roof using knotted bed sheets when
   they fled the Orange County Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana on January
   22.

   The suspects "have some connection to the individuals who have
   escaped," Hutchens said.

   Police say one of the fugitives, 20-year-old Jonathan Tieu, who was
   serving a murder sentence, was a member of a Vietnamese gang.

   The other men who fled were identified as Hossein Nayeri, 37, who was
   serving time for kidnapping and torture and 43-year-old Bac Duong,
   convicted of attempted murder.

   Police believe the men are dangerous, likely armed and possibly being
   hidden by Vietnamese accomplices.

   Nayeri was probably the mastermind of the escape, Hutchens said, adding
   the inmate's sophistication, military past and history of fleeing from
   law enforcement have investigators focusing on his role.

   A former U.S. Marine with special operations training and a history of
   mental illness, Nayeri was born in Iran but brought up by siblings in
   Fresno, California, The Orange County Register reported.

   More than 250 law enforcement officials from local, state and federal
   agencies are engaged in the search, the paper said.

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   alifornia-inmates-continues/3166851.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/five-arrested-as-search-for-excaped-california-inmates-continues/3166851.html