By Sean Olson
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE — Two 17-year-olds escaped from the state’s Youth Diagnostic and Development Center in northeast Albuquerque on Sunday morning.
Adam Landon of Hidalgo County and Ernesto Villalba of Doña Ana County squeezed through a wire fence and hopped a wall just after 10:30 a.m. before running away from the facility on foot, State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said.
“They were over and out within a matter of minutes,” Garcia said.
Two other inmates - 18-year-old Raydell Billy of Shiprock and 15-year-old Juan Moranda of Las Cruces - were caught by facility guards before they could get away, state Children Youth and Families department spokesman Bob Tafoya said.
As of Sunday evening, police still believed that the two escapees were in the Albuquerque area on foot, Garcia said. They were last seen running west, wearing gray sweats.
Both Landon and Villalba had been incarcerated since December and were serving two-year sentences, Garcia said.
Landon was serving time for kidnapping, aggravated assault, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon and a probation violation, according to a State Police news release.
Villalba was inside for battery on a peace officer, aggravated burglary, breaking and entering, burglary and larceny, according to the release.
Garcia said the four inmates had loosened wires in a fence during a scheduled morning recreational period and squeezed through the opening. They then shimmied up a fence pole and over the outer wall of the detention center, he said.
This is the first escape from the facility since January 2004, Tafoya said.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Adam Landon or Ernesto Villalba should call either the YDDC or State Police at:
505-841-2400 (YDDC)
505-841-9256 (State Police)
Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal