LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lake County Jail inmate walked away from a work detail in Lakeport on Sunday.
Brendan Scott Ferris, 42, of Kelseyville was on a work detail at the Lake County Department of Social Services' office at 926 Forbes St. in Lakeport on Sunday when he was last seen, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
A jail inmate's jumpsuit was found in a grocery cart in some bushes near where Ferris last was seen in Lakeport, according to information Lake County News has received on the case.
Now, Ferris is facing additional legal issues, said Hinchcliff.
“We've charged him with felony escape,” Hinchcliff said.
On Tuesday, Lake County News received reports that Ferris had been picked up in San Francisco. However, messages left with sheriff's command staff were not returned.
Hinchcliff said Ferris was sentenced in December 2012 to three years and eight months in prison for two felony convictions for possession of a controlled substance.
“He should have been doing his time in state prison,” said Hinchcliff, adding that because of the state's correctional realignment law, AB 109, Ferris instead is serving time locally in the county jail.
Social Services Director Carol Huchingson told Lake County News that her department's facilities management staff was working over the weekend on remodeling at the Lakeport office in order to minimize disruption to the worksite during the week.
She said two of the facilities maintenance workers were trained and certified by the sheriff's office to use inmate labor for such projects, and they have used inmate labor in the past
On Sunday, the two employees went to the jail and picked up five inmates each to help with the work, Huchingson said.
After working most of the day, it was determined at around 4 p.m. that one of the two employees would return to the jail with five inmates while the other employee stayed at the worksite and continued working with the remaining five, Huchingson said.
A head count of the 10 inmates was confirmed before the first employee left with five inmates. But within minutes of the first employee leaving, the second employee, who had remained on site, could only account for four inmates, she said.
“He called for the missing inmate but was unable to locate him,” said Huchingson. “We believe he may have slipped out a rear door of the building.”
Shes said the incident was reported immediately to the sheriff's office.
Ferris is the latest of several inmate escapes reported over the past 14 months.
Since April 2012, the sheriff's office has acknowledged three escapes of minimum security and inmate trustees, all of whom later were taken into custody.
In addition, a fourth escape occurred late last month but the man was quickly recaptured with the help of county Supervisor Rob Brown, who located the escapee not far from the jail on Hill Road, as Lake County News has reported.
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
