SALEM — A Lawrence man and two women who allegedly helped orchestrate his escape from custody last month were indicted yesterday on charges that could land all three in state prison.
Miguel Caraballo, 37, could get up to 10 years for his 38 hours of freedom on June 25 and 26. Meanwhile, two women — one of them a state employee — are also facing lengthy terms if convicted of aiding him in his escape.
JoAnn Santos, 30, of Lawrence, a married mother of three who works for the state Department of Revenue in Salem, is charged with aiding in an escape. Yessenia Silva, 27, of Lawrence, a mother of two, is facing two counts, aiding in an escape and being an accessory before the fact.
The indictments move the cases from Salem District Court to Salem Superior Court — the alleged scene of the crime.
All three are expected to be arraigned there within the next several weeks, where more details could emerge about the case. But Caraballo won't be making a return appearance at the downtown Salem courthouse, where he allegedly hopped into a waiting car after being let out of a prisoner transport van.
Instead, Salem Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead has ordered that Caraballo's next appearance in court will be via videoconference, meaning the accused will not leave Middleton Jail, where he's being held on $1 million bail in the case. The judge expressed concern about the cost of the high security required to bring him to the courthouse.
The brazen escape, planned in a series of phone calls from Caraballo, occurred on the morning of June 25 as Caraballo was being brought into court for a pretrial hearing in a Haverhill home invasion. A waiting Nissan Maxima pulled up behind the courthouse, and Caraballo, who slipped out of view of two guards, hopped over to the car, which sped away, according to a maintenance worker who was a witness.
The car, which had been stolen from Lynn, was found a few blocks away behind the Witch Museum. The shackles Caraballo had been wearing were found in the car and appeared to have been removed with bolt cutters, jail officials said last month.
Caraballo was found the following night, eating pizza at the home of an acquaintance in Dracut. He was caught after a brief foot chase into a marsh.
