Jailers Set Teen Free by Mistake

A 15-year-old boy accused of kidnapping a man and firing an AK-47 rifle at police officers during a freeway chase was mistakenly released from custody last week and is now the subject of a manhunt, authorities said Wednesday.

The teen, who was being held at the Santa Ana Jail without bail because of the seriousness of the alleged crimes, was set free Sept. 25 from Juvenile Hall in Orange after a mix-up in which Santa Ana jailers erroneously thought that all charges had been dropped against him.

Prosecutors and his defense attorney didn’t realize the teen was free until three days later, when he didn’t arrive in court for a hearing.

Officials called the mistake highly unusual and said they are investigating what went wrong. Meanwhile, officers from the Orange County Probation Department and Santa Ana Police Department are fanning out through the county in an effort to recapture a suspect that they describe as a danger to the community.

“We consider this a serious mistake. We are currently following several leads to catch this individual as soon as possible,” said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Baltazar De La Riva.

“We’re reviewing our internal procedures to make sure it does not happen again.”

Another law enforcement official familiar with the case said he can’t believe what happened. “Someone absolutely screwed up,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “This guy is extremely dangerous.”

Authorities allege that the teen, along with a 27-year-old accomplice, snatched a wealthy contractor from a Santa Ana home in April and then demanded a ransom of $100,000 for his release.

The kidnapping ended in a wild car chase. The teen and his accomplice allegedly fired more than 40 bullets through the back window of their car before crashing into a fence.

Police said the teenager is a member of a Los Angeles street gang and has an extensive record.

Prosecutors immediately filed attempted murder and kidnapping charges against the unidentified teenager, and said they would seek to try him as an adult.

He was sent to the Santa Ana City jail, where the county’s Probation Department has a contract to house all juveniles being tried as adults.

Months later, prosecutors decided to have the teen formally indicted by the Orange County Grand Jury. Once the indictment on attempted murder and kidnapping charges was obtained, the original charges were dismissed.

The dismissal should have been a formality given the new indictments by the grand jury. But somehow, a court order was issued to the Santa Ana jail ordering the teen’s release.

“That’s where the problems came up,” De La Riva said.

Apparently not aware of the grand jury indictment, city jail officials called the probation department Sept. 21 to say they had received the dismissal order and to ask that probation officers come and collect the teen, according to Chief Deputy Probation Officer Tom Wright.

“As best I can tell, we were not informed” about the indictment, Wright said. “We did not know there was another order to book him on yet another charge.”

Probation officers picked up the teen from Santa Ana Jail and brought him to Juvenile Hall in Orange. From there, he was allowed to go free, Wright said.

“I am baffled,” he said. “We don’t know what happened with this paperwork.”

Santa Ana police officials also blamed the error on a mix-up over paperwork associated with the teen’s case. “I guess everyone in this case could have been a little more diligent,” De La Riva said. “The wires got crossed.”

Officials in Orange County said such mix-ups rarely occur. “I can’t recall the last time I heard of anything like this happening at our department,” said Sgt. Lynn Koehmstedt of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which operates the county jails.

The problem is more common in Los Angeles County. In 1998, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted an internal audit that found no fewer than six murder suspects had been mistakenly released in the previous two years. The report blamed paperwork errors for the problems.

Santa Ana officials said they are taking a hard look at what went wrong and trying to tighten release procedures to make sure it never happens again.

“The main thing is to make sure that the prisoner files will be examined more thoroughly before an individual is released,” De La Riva said.

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Times staff writer Stuart Pfeifer contributed to this report.