By Rummana Hussain
Chicago Sun Times
Hours before a wild jailbreak allegedly designed to embarrass former Cook County Sheriff Michael Sheahan, a jail correctional officer promised a female friend of one of the escapees that he would soon be a free man, the woman testified Wednesday.
Jamie Joanson, 20, said she met with Darin Gater three times before the Feb. 11, 2006, incident and gave him $300 she made in baby-sitting money so he could take Newport cigarettes and alcohol to Eric Bernard, a basketball buddy she knew as “Evil.”
Before the fourth and final meeting, the former Calumet City resident, then 15, said Gater called her and told her Bernard needed a hoodie and some Nikes. When Joanson handed the items to Gater at a car wash near the jail complex, he told her of the planned escape, Joanson told jurors in Judge James Obbish’s courtroom.
“He told me Evil was coming out tonight. I asked, ‘How?’ He said, ‘Don’t worry about it’ and that he worked at the county a lot of years and that Evil would be out safe and sound,” Joanson testified.
Joanson said she later got a threatening call from Gater after she learned six dangerous inmates, including Bernard, had escaped.
“He said that I might want to keep my mouth shut about this because he knew where I lived,” the North Carolina woman said.
Gater, who faces charges of official misconduct and aiding the escape of an inmate, was recruited by other Special Operations Response Team members to make Sheahan look bad and give “their guy” a boost in an upcoming general election, Assistant State’s Attorney Romano DiBenedetto said.
At the time, Gater reportedly supported sheriff candidate Richard Remus, former head of the now-disbanded elite SORT unit who resigned in 2003 amid accusations he was abusing inmates. Remus was among the challengers to current Sheriff Tom Dart, who was then Sheahan’s chief of staff.
Gater initially painted himself as a victim and said he knew nothing about the plot, prosecutors said. He told authorities an inmate threw a chemical substance on him, put a “shank” to his throat, handcuffed him to a shower, took his uniform and put a dirty sock in his mouth, former sheriff’s investigator Craig Januchowski said.
Gater then said he helped the inmates escape in exchange for $50,000, before his story unraveled and he confessed he was part of the scheme, Januchowski said.
Gater’s attorney Andre Grant maintained his client’s innocence and said the command staff at the jail knew months in advance about a planned escape but never alerted Gater, 40.
All of the escapees were eventually taken back into custody, and six correctional officers, including Gater, were suspended.
The trial continues today.
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