A growing number of New Orleans fugitives’ friends and family arrested for aiding in jail escape

NEW ORLEANS AP The men who escaped from a New Orleans jail more than two weeks ago by cutting out a hole behind a toilet received help from at least people multiple of them friends and family who provided food cash movement and shelter according to court documents Records reviewed by The Associated Press show how chosen of the fugitives received aid before and after their escape including from a number of people named in police reports but not yet facing charges A former jail employee is accused of driving escapee Lenton Vanburen to a relative s home and helping him FaceTime family the day of the escape while another friend later offered him a hiding place in a vacant apartment he had been hired to repaint Others sent money via apps lied to leadership during interrogation and messaged or called the fugitives police say Particular are now held on bonds million or higher and majority of face the felony charge of accessory after the fact In a city with an entrenched mistrust of the criminal justice system government on Thursday raised the reward to per fugitive They stressed that friends and family are key to capturing the two remaining escapees convicted murderer Derrick Groves and Antoine Massey who faces kidnapping and rape charges We understand that certain of you might be reporting a friend a loved one a relative and albeit not easy it is critical to your safety and the safety of the populace that you record them Jonathan Tapp special agent in charge of FBI New Orleans mentioned Thursday Former jail employee appears linked to escape After the audacious escape in the early hours of May a woman who police described as associated with Groves picked up and transported escapee Vanburen to a relative s residence the documents show En-route she video-called Vanburen s sisters who came to meet him This woman who has not been charged with aiding in the escape shares the same name as a former Orleans Parish Sheriff s Office employee according to court records In that employee was arrested for bringing a folding knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the jail The charges were dropped in part due to the woman s lack of criminal history and she successfully completed a pretrial diversion plan the Orleans Parish District Attorney s office stated The Associated Press The Orleans Parish Sheriff s Office did not respond to request for comment In a text message to an AP reporter the woman denied bringing in contraband or aiding fugitives Separately government arrested a jail plumber they say helped the men escape but his attorney maintains he was just trying to unclog a toilet Phone records aid in arrests Several escapees including Massey relied on internet phone services to communicate with accomplices and avoid detection by not leaving a trail of cellular signals police reports say Escapee Corey Boyd used an internet phone facility to message several contacts seeking money and access to their iCloud accounts threatening to kill one person if they did not comply court records show The FBI reviewed months of calls from Boyd s top caller while incarcerated They then determined a brief call from a new phone number the night after the escape and used that to help track down Boyd They discovered that Boyd s aunt was messaging him on Instagram to help him get food as hid in the apartment where a SWAT association captured him May A victim of abuse arrested as accomplice One of the women accused of helping Massey and described by police as his paramour also suffered from years of physical abuse from him court records show The woman who had previously filed a protective order against Massey after he attempted to strangle her was aware of his planned escape and later misled administration police say She exchanged messages with Massey s -year-old sister saying they hoped he never gets caught Government staked out the New Orleans home of Massey s sister but a search six days after the escape turned up empty-handed Police learned Massey had been inside the home before the raid and altered and deleted evidence on his sister s phone Court records show police accuse Massey s sister of lying to them slowing down the manhunt and forcing them to lose critical days and hours in the search Government appeal to community for help At least seven of the people facing felony charges for aiding the fugitives have ties to Lenton Vanburen Jr according to officers After alerting two of his sisters by prison phone in the hours before his escape he instructed they contact my girl and provide her with a clean phone so the two could communicate The woman identified by police as Vanburen s love interest notified The Associated Press she never received the phone and denied involvement in the escape plans Vanburen s sisters met up with him the night of his escape at a family member s residence where he was able to shower change clothes and was given toiletries Another family member later reportedly took him to a relative s home in Mississippi Vanburen was ultimately captured in Baton Rouge Louisiana on Monday and two men arrested this week were accused of helping him find shelter in a hotel paid for in cash and an apartment undergoing renovation The Baton Rouge court system had no record of their legal representation In another situation a -year-old Louisiana woman is accused of sending cash to fugitive Jermaine Donald a family friend according to her attorney Lindsey Hortenstine communications director for the Orleans Parish Community Defenders office reported that most of of the people arrested in connection with helping the fugitives have not yet secured attorneys Louisiana State Police Superintendent Colonel Robert Hodges declared tips from friends and family remain essential to locating the remaining fugitives They re tired they re looking over their shoulder looking for information Hodges noted I think the advantage goes to law enforcement and we need the society s help to ensure that we keep that advantage Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press Record for America Statehouse News Initiative Overview for America is a nonprofit national function scheme that places journalists in local newsrooms to description on undercovered issues