SalemNews.com, Salem, MA

Local News

Discussion

Comments from users with registered accounts will post at once. Comments from unregistered accounts will post after being reviewed by a site moderator. Posts that do not meet site standards, which can be found here, will be removed.

comments powered by Disqus
June 26, 2008

Escaped prisoner still at large: Home-invasion suspect, still in shackles, flees jail guards outside

By Julie Manganis and Matthew K. Roy

SALEM — Miguel Caraballo once allegedly boasted that he would never return to prison.

With a 20-year minimum mandatory prison term for home invasion looming, as well as additional time for a federal probation violation, Caraballo saw an opportunity to make good on that boast, hatching an escape plan straight out of the movies.

Now the convicted felon, who once allegedly threatened to shoot it out with police, remains at large and hunted by law enforcement, after he eluded sheriff's deputies and shuffled into a waiting car behind Salem Superior Court yesterday morning.

At the wheel was an as-yet-unidentified woman, officials said.

Caraballo's escape comes just four months after a co-defendant in the home invasion allegedly stole an ambulance while in custody and led police on a wild chase down Route 1A in February.

"We have every confidence he will be caught," said Paul Fleming, a spokesman for Essex County Sheriff Frank Cousins. "When he is caught, he will be charged with escape."

Caraballo, 37, who has listed addresses in Lawrence and Lowell and who uses several aliases, including Romero Angel and Francis Andino, was awaiting trial in a violent kidnapping and home invasion in Haverhill. He had been in custody since April, after being found in Lowell by a police fugitive task force, held on $100,000 cash bail and on a federal warrant.

It was just after 8 a.m. when Caraballo, one of 11 inmates in a Sheriff's Department van being brought to court, somehow got out of view of the two sheriff's deputies guarding the inmates, Fleming said.

They apparently lost sight of Caraballo when he went behind an electrical box outside the rear entrance to the courthouse, then got into a waiting white Nissan driven by a woman.

Caraballo was wearing both handcuffs and shackles, as well as a body chain, Fleming said.

The car was found abandoned about 21/2 blocks away on Kimball Court, a small alley behind the Salem Witch Museum, near Salem Common.

Courthouse maintenance worker Charles "Chuckie" Atkinson said he saw a white car parked behind the court complex, in a lot underneath the old county commissioners offices, then moments later heard screeching tires.

Fleming said that the two officers were not in a position to take off after Caraballo, because they were already in the process of moving at least some of the 10 other inmates in the van to the courthouse.

Judge Howard Whitehead issued a warrant for Caraballo later yesterday morning.

Caraballo's attorney, James Frederick, said he heard about the escape as he was driving to the courthouse, listening to the radio. When he heard his client's name, Frederick said he was stunned.

Caraballo, who was indicted in March and arraigned in Superior Court on May 5, was being brought to court for a routine pretrial hearing. Frederick said. The lawyer said the hearing had been scheduled for June 30, but that he moved it to accommodate his own schedule.

Because of a clerical mix-up at the court, Caraballo had actually been brought to the courthouse by mistake on Tuesday, as well, said the lawyer.

Caraballo is charged with kidnapping, home invasion, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, and larceny of a motor vehicle, all stemming from the Dec. 21 incident on Corliss Hill Road in Haverhill.

Prosecutors say three men — Caraballo, William Guzman Jr., 38, of Lawrence and Brett Ferraro, 20, of Haverhill — went to the home with plans to steal a safe belonging to a plowing contractor.

A house guest was asleep upstairs, prosecutors say, when the three men attacked him, tied him up and ransacked the house looking for the safe. Caraballo allegedly pistol-whipped the houseguest, demanding to know where they could find the safe and its combination.

They then fled in the contractor's Mercedes-Benz, which was later found in Plaistow, N.H.

Guzman also allegedly tried to escape custody last March, touching off a wild police chase through four North Shore communities after he climbed into an unattended ambulance while being taken to Beverly Hospital for treatment. Guzman struck at least eight other vehicles as the stolen ambulance sped down Route 1A.

Guzman was caught when the ambulance got stuck in traffic in Lynn. Guzman was found hiding in a house nearby. He is now awaiting trial.

Caraballo's record includes a conviction in federal court for interstate transportation of stolen goods, a felony for which he was still on probation.

When state police learned that Caraballo had told people he would be willing to do anything to avoid going back to prison, including a shootout with police, they got a "no-knock" warrant for the apartment in Lowell where he was staying in April. More than two dozen officers went to the building and forced their way into the apartment where he was sleeping.

This isn't the first time an inmate has taken off from behind the courthouse. In 2004, 18-year-old Jason Brown fled from behind the court as he was being led back to a van. Brown, who had suffered injuries when he crashed during a police chase, was using a walker and had not been completely shackled. He was caught several blocks away on Derby Street by Salem police.

The layout of the area behind the courthouse, where inmates are brought to and from Sheriff's Department vans, is less than ideal for security, Fleming said.

Most courthouses have an enclosed "sally port" or other secure area where a van or car can pull in before letting out the people in custody.

At Salem Superior Court, vans either pull into a small driveway at the end of an open walkway facing Bridge Street, or park on Bridge Street itself.

"We do the absolute best we can given what we're dealing with," Fleming said.

The new court complex will include a secure area for unloading inmates.

In 2004, both the court and the Middleton Jail acquired videoconferencing equipment that would have allowed some proceedings to be conducted by video.

The idea was embraced by jail officials, who said it would reduce transportation costs and security risks involved in transporting inmates and by some judges.

But local defense attorneys were troubled by the idea, saying they did not believe it would allow them to adequately communicate with and represent their clients.

Asked whether it's time to bring up the idea again, Fleming said the jail would be interested in reopening a discussion with the judges and lawyers, but said, "Everyone else has to be on board."

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News

North Shore News Updates on Twitter
Stories Shared on Facebook
AP Video
Comments Tracker