JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The search is on for the last of four inmates who escaped from a Juvenile Justice detention center on Jacksonville's Northside.
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is looking for Tajah Bing, 16, after he and three other inmates escaped from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice facility. Investigators said the four stole an employee's car from the detention center and escaped Saturday night.
The Department of Juvenile Justice has suspended admissions at the facility as it investigates the escape. Their focus now is on finding Tajah. Police say he's from Osceola County. He's 5 feet, 10 inches tall weighing 140 pounds. His charges include lewd & lascivious behavior on a victim less than 12 years old. He's still on the run.
The three other inmates, Davionne Baldwin, Tyjuan Monroe and Marcus Ledbetter were all located earlier Sunday and taken into police custody.
Davionne, 17, was arrested for escape and battery on Detention Facility Staff. He was also charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and violation of probation.
Tyjuan, 16, was charged with robbery with a firearm, grand theft of a motor vehicle.
Marcus, 17, was charged with burglary, escape and battery on a detention facility staff.
The jailbreak
The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was notified about the escape around 11 p.m. Saturday when the four staged a fight in their dorm room at the Jacksonville Youth Academy on Lannie Road, attacked staff who entered to stop the fight, then pushed buttons to unlock the front door. Officials said one of the inmates dumped a staff member’s purse onto the floor and stole her keys and took a staff member’s issued cellphone.
Police said the teens left in the staff member's bronze, four-door Infiniti with Florida tag LANE19.
The Department of Juvenile Justice released the following statement:
The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice has commenced an immediate investigation into the escape of four youth at Jacksonville Youth Academy, a residential commitment program run by contracted provider TrueCore Behavioral Solutions. Two youth have been apprehended and we stand ready to assist law enforcement in any way that we can to ensure the remaining youth are apprehended quickly and safely. The Department takes escape incidents such as these very seriously, and if we discover through our investigation that failures of policies and procedures have occurred, we will take contract action against this provider. At this time, admissions to the Jacksonville Youth Academy program, have been suspended.
People who live near the Lannie Road juvenile lockup said improvements are needed to keep these escapes from happening again.
"They should really get better on their security because I don’t think the kids nowadays are afraid of anything. And for them to have gotten as far as they did, I think they need to update their facility to do better," said a woman who lives a mile away and wanted to remain anonymous.
If you see the Tajah or the 2015 bronze Infiniti Q-50 with the Florida license plate: LANE19, you're urged to call 911. You can remain anonymous and possibly receive a reward of up to $3,000 by calling Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS (8477).