The final and most dangerous inmate involved in a viral escape from a New Orleans prison has been recaptured, months after he is accused of going on the run along with nine other men.
Derrick Groves was taken into custody in Atlanta, Georgia, after evading the authorities for almost five months, the U.S. Marshals said Wednesday.
The 28-year-old, who had been convicted of murder and was facing a possible life sentence before the jailbreak, is accused of escaping from the Orleans Parish Jail in May after he and the other inmates crawled through a hole behind a toilet, police said.
Out of all the accused escapees, Groves had the most violent criminal record, and authorities had offered a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to his recapture.
Sgt. Kate Stegall, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police, said there had been a brief standoff with officers before the arrest.
“He was hiding in a crawl space,” Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair said. “It appears he was the only one in this house and he was hidden pretty well.”
Groves was arrested by the Marshals southeast regional fugitive task force and Atlanta Police Department SWAT team, Fair said.
Police previously captured the other nine accused escapees following the May 16 jailbreak, one of the largest in recent U.S. history. Authorities said the men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the dark.
Their disappearance was not discovered until the following morning during a headcount. Authorities found a message drawn around the hole they say the men used to escape: an arrow pointing at the gap and the words “To Easy LoL.”
Reacting to news of Groves’ arrest, his mother Stephanie Groves said she was “all messed up.”
“I’m just trying to talk to him,” she told the Associated Press. “I’m just seeing it on the internet, I woke up to it on the internet. It’s just been a mess.
“I’m just glad it’s over with… Of course he was going to get caught.”
In July, while authorities say Groves was still on the run, the nine other men fugitives pleaded not guilty to escape charges.
All 10 men are charged with simple escape, which is tacked on top of previous criminal counts that initially landed them in jail, Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office confirmed.
If found guilty, the escape charge carries a sentence of two to five years in prison.
Officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail, but authorities remain adamant that the men also had likely had help.
A maintenance worker at the jail was arrested for allegedly helping the incarcerated men escape, by turning off the water to the toilet where the fugitives escaped through the hole.
The man has denied knowingly aiding them via his lawyer, who says he was simply unclogging a toilet. Another former jail employee, identified by authorities as Groves’ girlfriend, is accused of helping coordinate the escape.
