Sheriff’s Department Facing Tough Questions After Suspect Escape

INDIO –The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is taking a hard look at the circumstances surrounding the escape of a suspect Thursday.

Deputies arrested Jose Angel Ramos and Juan Adrian Lopez for an armed home invasion robbery in Mecca early in the morning.

They were taken to the sheriff’s Indio station for questioning, but Ramos got away.

“About 10 o’clock we realized the subject was not in the interview room he was supposed to be in. We then did a search within the building,” said Assistant Sheriff Colleen Walker. “Ultimately, 10 to 15 minutes later, we made notification to the surrounding agencies that the subject may be out of the building and began our full-blown search at that point.”

Nearly two hours later, about a mile from the station, deputies tracked down Ramos at the Arabia Mobile Home Park.

The Sheriff’s Department isn’t saying how Ramos got free or for how long he was gone.

That is part of an internal investigation.

Also under scrutiny, a question of urgency in alerting the public.

Walker says by 10:15 a.m., other agencies were notified. But it was another 40 minutes before local media got confirmation of the escape.

“We all realize the media is a great source for us in this type of incident and we want to get the media good information and we want them to partner with us,” said Walker.

She added the department’s investigation will look at how information was obtained and how quickly it got to the media.