El Cajon

A 36-year-old inmate escaped from County Jail in El Cajon after he kicked a hole through a wall, then used a rope made of bed sheets to climb down seven floors, the Sheriff’s Department reported Tuesday.

The escape of John J. Peugh, who was in custody on suspicion of burglary and possession of stolen property, was discovered Tuesday morning by a deputy on his way to work.

Peugh, who escaped sometime between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, apparently removed a ceiling fan in the day room in his module and crawled through the duct until he came to the outside wall, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said.

Peugh then made a 3-by-5-foot hole in the wall and climbed down from the seventh floor, a distance of about 130 feet, on the rope of bed sheets, the spokesman said.

Peugh was last accounted for at 10:25 p.m. Monday.