By Corey Schmidt
The Sacramento Bee
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State corrections officials announced Wednesday that an inmate who walked away from the Growlersburg Conservation Camp in El Dorado County was arrested nearly six months after his escape.
Juan David Veramancini was arrested by deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Deputies on suspicion of first-degree burglary and possession of stolen property, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. A spokesperson for the Orange County agency said deputies took him into custody in Los Angeles County .
Corrections officers discovered Veramancini, 49, was missing Feb. 23 after he failed to appear for an evening headcount. At the time, Veramancini was serving a sentence at Growlersburg for a second-degree burglary conviction in Los Angeles County .
State corrections officials said Veramancini would be returned to CDCR custody after he is arraigned on possible new Orange County charges. He was booked into the Orange County Jail , according to the county’s inmate locator.
Veramancini also could face additional charges related to his escape, which CDCR referred to the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office.
Veramancini was not the only inmate to escape from Growlersburg this year. Jose Zamora walked away from the facility in early April but was apprehended minutes later. Zamora was set to serve the remainder of his sentence at a state prison rather than the camp near Georgetown , which trains nonviolent inmates to fight wildfires. He’s since been transferred to the Sierra Conservation Center in Tuolumne County .
About 99% of inmates who escaped or walked away since 1977 from a CDCR adult institution, camp, in-state contract bed or Community Rehabilitative Program Placement were arrested, according to CDCR.
Six inmates escaped from Growlersburg over roughly the past five years, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting. All six were apprehended.
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