Derrick Groves - Man behind one of the largest jailbreaks in U.S arrested. What do we know?

Derrick Groves was taken into custody in a house after evading authorities for nearly five months, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Fair confirmed. Sgt. Kate Stegall, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Police, also said Groves was in custody after a brief standoff. With this The only escaped Louisiana inmate who remained on the run following an audacious May jailbreak in which 10 men crawled through a hole behind a toilet has been found in Atlanta, the U.S. Marshals said Wednesday.

Who is Derrick Groves?

28-year-old Groves had been convicted of murder and was facing a possible life sentence before the jailbreak. He had the most violent criminal record of the escapees and authorities had offered a $50,000 reward for tips that lead to his recapture.


“He was hiding in a crawl space,” Fair said. “It appears he was the only one in this house and he was hidden pretty well.”

No one else was arrested, Fair said. Groves was arrested by the U.S. Marshals southeast regional fugitive task force and Atlanta Police Department SWAT team, Fair said.

The other nine escapees had been recaptured within six weeks of breaking out of the New Orleans jail on May 16, and most were found still in Louisiana.

Groves and the nine other men yanked open a faulty cell door inside the New Orleans jail, squeezed through a hole behind a toilet, scaled a barbed-wire fence and fled into the coverage of darkness. With 10 men on the lam, it was one of the largest jailbreaks in recent U.S. history.

The inmates’ absence wasn’t discovered until a morning headcount, hours after they bolted for freedom. At the scene of the crime, the cell where the men removed a toilet to sneak through a hole, they left a message. On the cell wall they drew an arrow, pointing at the gap they slipped through — above it was a graffitied message: “To Easy LoL.”

City and state officials have pointed to multiple security lapses in the jail, including ineffective cell locks and the assertion that the inmates got out when the lone guard monitoring them went to get food. But authorities remain adamant that the men also had likely had help and that the escape may have been an inside job.

A maintenance worker at the jail was arrested for allegedly helping the incarcerated men escape, by turning off the water to the toilet where a hole was cut behind for the fugitives to sneak out of. The man has denied knowingly aiding them via his lawyer, who says he was just unclogging a toilet. Another former jail employee, identified by authorities as Groves’ girlfriend, is accused of helping coordinate the escape.

All 10 men are charged with simple escape, which is tacked on top of previous criminal counts that initially landed them in jail, according to Murrill’s office. The escape charge carries a sentence of two to five years in prison.

Groves’ attorney was present for the arraignment but did not enter a plea on his behalf, reported The New Orleans Advocate/The Times-Picayune.