Problems with Va. jail's locks were known for months before murder suspect's escape
The board that oversees Piedmont Regional Jail in southern Virginia has known for months that locks at the facility were "failing," WRAL Investigates found in minutes from meetings of the jail authority board dating back to December 2022.
The jail is under scrutiny after a pair of inmates escaped on Sunday, one of them a murder suspect in the high-profile shooting death of a Wake County sheriff's deputy.
Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo and his older brother, Arturo Marin-Sotelo, are charged with murdering Wake Deputy Ned Byrd in August, and the younger man escaped Piedmont Regional Jail over the weekend. The other escapee, Bruce Carroll Callahan Jr., 44, also from North Carolina, was serving time on multiple federal drug charges.
Jerry Townsend, superintendent of the Piedmont Regional Jail, said jail officials believe the inmates "manipulated the locking mechanism on the rear exit door" and escaped.
Piedmont Regional Jail Authority Board minutes from December say the facility needs to replace locks in four "pods" and to replace eight cell doors.
By January 2023, the board wrote, "The current locks are failing."
In February, the board discussed a plan to replace the locks, but in March minutes, the board noted that all the scheduled replacements had yet to be completed.
The board meeting minutes show that Townsend was negotiating "with Willo Products Company to purchase locks for M pod,” but Willo President M. David Wood told WRAL News that his company had not been contracted for any recent work at the jail.
WRAL Investigates asked jail officials if Marin-Sotelo was housed in one of the pods with the failing locks. The jail did not respond on Tuesday.
Tracy Gee, board chair of the Piedmont Regional Jail Authority, acknowledged the discussions about the repair work but was not aware of issues with any exterior doors.
"The door locks proposed for replacement were interior doors within specific pods, not exterior," Gee said.
The jail, according to its website, houses up to 600 offenders at security levels ranging from minimum to high security. In addition to state and local offenders, federal inmates like Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo are held at Piedmont Regional Jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshal's Service. According to the board's minutes, federal inmates usually number 100 to 150 of that population.
Records show the jail operating with an average of about 24 security officer vacancies each month over the past year, and in February, the board noted a request from the superintendent for more state funding for additional staff. A fiscal audit of the jail from last year reads, "Every effort is being made to fill the Jail’s vacancies and increase the Jail’s population and in turn increase revenue.”
Since Marin-Sotelo and Callahan's escapes on Sunday, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have been engaged in the search for the men.
According to Townsend:
At 1:18 a.m. on Sunday, Alder Marin-Sotelo escaped Piedmont Regional Jail
At 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Bruce Callahan escaped (22 hours later)
At 3:19 a.m. on Monday, jail staff noticed the two men missing
At 4 a.m. on Monday, the Prince Edward County Sheriff's Department was notified of the escapes
Alder Alfonso Marin-Sotelo, who is described as 5 feet, 6 inches tall, 150 pounds with black hair and brown eyes, was wearing a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants at the time of the escape. Surveillance video shows him driving away from the property in a red or burgundy Mustang.
Callahan is described as a white male, 5 feet, 10 inches tall, with black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing blue shorts and white sneakers at the time of his escape.
