A Lake County Jail escapee and his girlfriend remained in a Texas jail Wednesday after being arrested Tuesday night by San Antonio Police.
Lake County Sheriff John Buncich said Richard N. Campos, and his girlfriend, Elysia Jeronimo, 19, are in the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, and his office is preparing to extradite them to Lake County. Buncich announced the couple’s capture and the circumstances that led to Campos’ escape Wednesday afternoon alongside several detectives who worked the case.
Campos, 22, escaped Saturday morning from the county laundry building with the assistance of Jeronimo, authorities said. Campos had been assigned to laundry detail since he entered the jail a week earlier.
Campos was in the jail on a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge, but Buncich said Campos also faced multiple warrants on charges such as battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting law enforcement.
Buncich said Campos and Jeronimo were alleged gang members, with affiliations to the Latin Kings and Two Six gang.
Later Saturday, police received a tip that Campos and Jeronimo were spotted at the River Oaks Mall in Calumet City, Ill., trying to purchase a cellphone at a TMobile store. Surveillance photos from the mall’s security cameras confirmed the pair’s presence, he said.
The couple drove away from the mall in a red truck and headed southwest. Jeronimo dropped off her three children with her mother on Sunday night, police said.
Police began to track the couple via their phone’s GPS. Buncich said the couple tried to evade police by tampering with it, but he said police were able to use other technology to track their movements.
Buncich said they didn’t stop much as they headed into Arkansas and eventually to Texas, where the couple stopped in the San Antonio area.
“Our intelligence indicated that Campos had ties to the area,” Buncich said. “San Antonio Police said they physically saw Campos at a friend’s house.”
Buncich said Campos tried to evade police capture but he was eventually arrested along with Jeronimo.
Campos and Jeronimo face escape charges that could result in up to five years in prison.
Three Lake County Jail corrections officers are on administrative leave due to the escape, which Buncich chalked up to human error. But he said that he’s seeking to terminate them and charges will likely be filed before the Police Merit Board soon, accusing the guards of improperly classifying Campos and improperly supervising him.
When inmates enter the jail, they are classified based on their prior arrests and convictions, Buncich said, but that was never done in Campos’ case.
“They are placed in the supervision of guards, usually multiple guards, who should know their constant whereabouts and they should be confined to area where they are assigned,” Buncich said.
In the days before the escape, Campos talked in person and over the phone with Jeronimo about needing help and telling her where and when she should meet him outside the laundry facility.
Buncich said they monitored phone calls after the escape, but “there weren’t any red flags before.”
“All of the flags should have gone up and unfortunately they didn’t go up,” Buncich said.
