By Austin L. Miller
Ocala Star-Banner, Fla.
OCALA, Fla. — A Marion County Jail supervisor was demoted, two detention deputies were disciplined and the sheriff’s office changed some protocols after an 18-year-old inmate walked away from the lockup one afternoon in February.
Gessica Gonzalez was demoted from sergeant to detention deputy and suspended three days without pay, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, which operates the jail. Gonzalez had two agency violations sustained against her: release preparations and dereliction of duty.
Detention Assistant Betsy Iturrey was suspended for five days without pay for what officials called a violation of intake control. Detention Deputy Samantha Davis was suspended a day without pay for violating booking and release procedures.
At issue was the odd, and ultimately short-lived, escape of Jakecio Demitrius Jaheem Pollard. It was hardly the stuff of a Hollywood thriller.
Surveillance video shows Pollard walking to the booking release side door at 4:34 p.m. on Feb. 2. He pushes the intercom button, then follows a Heart of Florida Health Center employee through the door to the outside. A minute later, the video shows, Pollard was walking along the perimeter fence. Heart of Florida provides health care services at the jail.
The HFHC employee said in her interview with an investigator that Pollard followed her through the door. When they were both in the vestibule, she asked Pollard if he was supposed to leave, and he told her yes. She said he showed her his paperwork, which was in his jacket.
Later in the evening, the woman said, she received a phone call about an inmate leaving the jail without permission.
That day was Detention Assistant Charles Paddock’s 12th day of training and his first time working the inmate control area. Paddock said he saw the HFHC employee walk to the booking release door and he opened it for her.
He said he saw a male, later identified as Pollard, behind the HFHC employee. Paddock said he asked Iturrey, the detention assistant, if the male should be released. Iturrey reportedly told Paddock he could open the door for the man.
Iturrey said in her interview with the investigator that she thought Pollard could be released since he wasn’t wearing an inmate uniform. He was wearing civilian clothing.
The detention assistant said usually, once the booking release detention deputy is finished with the inmate’s release paperwork, the booking release detention deputy notifies intake control of the number of people who can be released, so the door can be opened.
Iturrey told the investigator she did did not hear the detention deputy announce a release.
Davis, who was the detention deputy, said she left booking to go to another pod so an inmate could sign bond paperwork. When she returned to the booking area, Pollard was missing.
She said she searched the area and was unable to find Pollard. Davis said she was later told that Pollard had walked out of the jail.
Gonzalez was the supervisor who was supposed to be on duty at the time Pollard left the jail, sheriff’s office officials said. She told the investigator that she had no one to pick up her children, so she had to leave early. Gonzalez said she assumed another supervisor would be there.
Gonzalez said the watch commander told her that if she left early, she would have to tell another sergeant.
The investigator told Gonzalez that the booking area was without a supervisor for 17 minutes. Gonzalez said she thought the other supervisor was on her way to work, and was unaware of the time gap.
She said she “dropped the ball” by not contacting a supervisor, according to the investigator’s report.
Once officials realized what had happened, deputies frantically searched for Pollard. Even the Sheriff’s Office helicopter was dispatched.
Meanwhile, investigators listened to a recording of a phone call Pollard had made to his girlfriend from the jail. Inmate calls are recorded, except in special cases, such as conversations with legal counsel.
During that call, he told her to meet him in the Rural King parking lot, which is close to the jail. He also talked about going to a hotel but did not give a name.
As it turned out, several hours after leaving Pollard surrendered himself at the Department of Juvenile Justice building, which is not far from the jail.
He was charged with escape, and that prosecution is ongoing, according to court records.
The Ocala resident was at the jail awaiting a transfer to the DJJ. He had been arrested that day on charges of giving a false name to a law enforcement officer and possession of cannabis less than 20 grams.
Court and jail documents show he pleaded guilty to those offenses and was sentenced to 16 days in the jail. He has served the 16 days and is presently out on $10,000 bond while he awaits resolution of the escape case.
According to Inspector Sgt. Roselynn Collazo’s internal report, there were no specifics on how to properly release an inmate from the jail. That has changed.
The new order states that “all releases will be escorted through the inner booking release door by a deputy or supervisor.”
It continues: “This door’s operation has been deactivated from Intake Control; the only way through this door will be by a key on any booking and supervisor key sets.
“Once the released inmates are secured in the booking release vestibule,” the policy says, “the deputy/supervisor authorizing the release will notify Intake Control, permitting them to let the released inmates thorough the outer booking release door.”
Civilian staff must leave the jail only through the main entrance. The booking release doors can be used only by a select group of people, such as classification personnel transporting court paperwork and medical personnel retrieving package deliveries.
“The Intake Control room door and booking release cell doors will remain locked at all times,” the policy says.
This was not the first time someone had escaped or tried to escape from the lockup. Six months earlier, former inmate Alexander Wayne Phillip came back to the jail, used bolt cutters to cut the jail fencing, entered the compound, went to a housing area and, using an ax, repeatedly banged against a window.
His intent was to free his friends. He was unsuccessful and ran away. He was eventually captured.
One friend, Joshua “Blue” Douglas Haynes, who law enforcement officials believe was in on the botched plan, was sentenced in December to 10 years in prison. The cases against the other two, including Phillip, are ongoing, according to court records.
Since that foiled attempted, Sheriff’s Office officials have sought and received funding to shore up the jail’s perimeter. Some of the work has already begun.
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