Reply
Tue 1 Dec, 2009 08:34 pm
This story is bizarre enough, I thought it deserves a thread. What the story doesn't tell here is that this guy has been wheelchair bound for a number of years. He stabbed his wife, who was visiting him, with a piece of the wheelchair. Nobody expected him to walk, or have a gun hidden in the wheelchair.- edgarblythe
Investigators say there are no indications that escaped rapist Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr. has left the Baytown area, where he bolted from custody Monday after strongarming and handcuffing two correctional guards driving him to another prison, stealing three of their guns and walking away.
The search for Comeaux, 49, a heavily armed convicted child molester now wanted for escape and aggravated kidnapping, is continuing to center in the Houston and Baytown areas, said John Moriarty, inspector general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. TDCJ is searching for the escapee, along with the Texas Rangers, the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force and Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Sightings are continuing to pour in today, with authorities receiving 100 tips so far, Moriarty said.
"We have no evidence to show he’s out of the Baytown area," Moriarty said today. "Obviously, the investigation is centered here in the Houston area, so it’s a good possibility he’s here. But we’ve got nothing to show him outside of where he left that van."
Moriarty would not reveal whether bloodhounds picked up Comeaux’s scent during the search, how far the scent traveled or where it led. There is nothing to indicate the escaped inmate somehow got access to a car, Moriarty said.
"We don’t have any information beyond him walking away from that van," Moriarty said.
Tips that Comeaux had been seen in the Bryan-College Station area and somewhere in Florida proved to be false, authorities said.
"He’s out there, his face is out there, we’re going to get calls and we’re going to chase down every lead with the help of all the resources we can," Moriarty said.
Awards totaling up to $15,000 have been announced for information leading to Comeaux’s capture. The U.S. Marshal’s Service is offering $10,000, while Crime Stoppers will pay up to an additional $5,000 for tips that lead to his arrest.
Comeaux escaped in Baytown around 9 a.m. Monday while guards in a TDCJ van tried to move him from the Estelle prison unit in Huntsville to the Stiles Unit in Beaumont. He overtook the guards, pulling a gun and firing a warning shot when the van reached Highway 105 in Conroe.
Comeaux then forced the two guards to drive him to Baytown and to stop the van at the intersection of Lee Drive, Texas Avenue and Market Street, near Lee College. There, Comeaux handcuffed the guards, put on one guard’s uniform and boots, then stole a 12-gauge shotgun and two semi-automatic pistols from them before fleeing on foot. The officers were discovered an hour later unharmed.
The escaped inmate has a long criminal record. He was accused of raping two young girls, one as young as 7, in Brazos County in 1997, which earned him 99 years in prison. In 1999, he stabbed his wife repeatedly and a man who came to her rescue while she visited Comeaux at the Jester III prison unit in Fort Bend County. That attack earned him two life sentences.
His record in Harris County goes back to 1979. He has been convicted of indecency with a child, unlawfully carrying a weapon, aggravated rape of a child and burglary with intent to commit a felony in Harris County alone. In 1997, Comeaux was arrested after Aldine ISD police said he tried to lure a student into his car.
Comeaux has immediate family members in the Houston area, and investigators have spoken to them, but would not specify how they are related.
"For the most part, we find them to be very cooperative," Moriarty said. He would not say if Comeaux has tried to contact any of his family members here.
TDCJ officials aren’t sure how Comeaux obtained the gun he used to overtake the guards as the trio was traveling through Conroe in a prison van Monday, but are looking at the possibility the weapon was smuggled into the prison, Moriarty said.
Moriarty also revealed that TDCJ had previously investigated Comeaux’s mobility several years ago and whether he really needed to use a wheelchair, but medical personnel signed off on the inmate’s need for the device. "As you know, medical conditions change and fluctuate, and doctors make determinations," he said.
Comeaux has a crippled left hand and scars on his left arm, left forearm and abdomen, TDCJ officials said. He is black, 6’ 1" tall and weighs about 200 pounds. He has brown eyes and closely shaved black hair.
Anyone who sees Comeaux or has information on his whereabouts is asked to call the U.S. Marshals Office at (713) 718-4259 or 1-877-WANTED2. Crime Stoppers also will accept anonymous tips at 713-222-TIPS.
Chronicle reporters Cindy Horswell, Harvey Rice, James Pinkerton and Ericka Mellon contributed to this report.
@edgarblythe,
two guards, three guns, interesting
weird story for sure
@djjd62,
I edited the top of my post, djjd. The man was wheelchair-bound and had the gun hidden in his chair.
@edgarblythe,
ah
we had a similar situation on Canada last week, a prisoner had been taken to the hospital and was being taken back for a follow up procedure, usually the visits are last minute to avoid what occurred this time, two friends of the prisoner ambushed the guards and overpowered them, driving off with the offender, he was on the loose for about a week before being recaptured along with his accomplices
@djjd62,
Quote:he was on the loose for about a week before being recaptured along with his accomplices
Ya think there's a market for a
Stat's Book for Criminals, ... stats show that this is a real dumb crime to commit and your expected total freedom time that you can expect is ...
The escapee who used a smuggled gun to break out of a state prison van and spent a week on the run gave Texas Rangers the names of three Estelle prison unit employees he alleged helped arm him or assisted in his getaway, community activist Quanell X said on Wednesday.
Arcade Joseph Comeaux Jr., 49, of Houston, identified two guards and a nurse at the maximum-security prison in Huntsville as accomplices, Quanell X said. The Texas Rangers gave those names to Texas Department of Criminal Justice investigators, who were still trying to verify on Wednesday whether the three work at the Estelle prison unit and in what capacity.
The three have not yet been questioned, and no criminal charges have been filed, said TDCJ Inspector General John Moriarty. Investigators would not release their names publicly.
Comeaux also led the Texas Rangers on Wednesday to a spot in northeast Houston, where they recovered a shotgun and ammunition stolen from the two transport officers Comeaux is accused of overpowering during his Nov. 30 escape. The shotgun, which was found after Comeaux escorted officers to its hiding spot under brush about 35 yards off Little York near Wayside, was the only weapon still missing.
The Texas Rangers would not comment, but Moriarty predicted a lengthy investigation. Several TDCJ employees have already been cleared after the tips about them proved false, he said.
“The allegations, everything, are still being verified,” Moriarty said. “We’re not turning our head on anything. We’re looking at all possibilities.”
Comeaux told Quanell X during their meeting on Wednesday, their second in two days, that one of the three TDCJ employees smuggled the .380 semiautomatic pistol inside the prison and another passed him the weapon, which he kept hidden in his cell for three weeks, the activist said. Comeaux alleged one of the employees also assisted in his escape from the wheelchair he was shackled to.
Beyond that, Quanell X would not specify the help Comeaux alleged he received from the three employees or detail who did what, saying he couldn’t discuss specifics because of the ongoing investigation. A Texas Ranger also attended the meeting.
Texas Rangers allowed Quanell X to meet with Comeaux after the prisoner refused to speak otherwise.
Comeaux, who is serving three life sentences for sexual assault of a child and stabbing his wife and another man during a prison visit, escaped while being moved from the Estelle prison unit in Huntsville to the Stiles prison unit in Beaumont. He allegedly used his smuggled gun to take control of two officers driving the prison van when they reached Conroe and forced them to the back of the vehicle, where they were handcuffed, then drove the van to Baytown. There, he walked away wearing one officer’s uniform and armed with the officers’ three guns, authorities said. He left his smuggled pistol behind, officials said.
After eight days on the run, he was captured Monday, barefooted and hungry, in northeast Houston. Comeaux has said the two transport officers were not among those who helped him.
“He mentioned being part of a prison gang and said they had corrupted the guards at the unit " and this is a maximum-security unit,” Quanell X said Wednesday, declining to identify the gang. The activist added that Comeaux worked his way up in the gang and earned money to buy the gun “from the selling of contraband and particular drugs.”
Comeaux has alleged inmates sell drugs and cellular phones to each other inside the prison, then use the sale proceeds to pay guards for corrupt purposes.
Safety concerns
Comeaux, who is now in the Montgomery County Jail since he took control of the prison van in that jurisdiction, said he is concerned about his safety after giving names and details to investigators, but TDCJ has made no assurances, Quanell X said.
“He is a tremendous embarrassment to them, and he has brought a huge spotlight on them,” the activist said. “So, trust me, I don’t think they want to do anything to accommodate him, even though there’s real legitimate reasons why they should.”
TDCJ officials said they will soon begin disciplining five or six employees who were “negligent or complacent” in their duties related to Comeaux’s escape and did not follow proper administrative procedures before or during his move. However, that is unrelated to Comeaux’s allegations that two guards and a nurse helped him escape.