Authorities are investigating whether one of the two inmates still on the run after last month’s New Orleans jail escape posted a social media video, claiming the jailbreak wasn’t his idea.
On May 16, a total of 10 inmates escaped the Orleans Parish jail through a hole in a wall left by a ripped-away toilet and sink unit, officials said. Police have since captured eight of the men, leaving both Antoine Massey, 32, and Derrick Groves, 27, at large.
An Instagram video posted Sunday, June 1 appears to have been from Massey, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune and local station WVUE. In the video, a man who identified himself as Massey dismissed rumors that he was the mastermind behind the jail break. NOLA.com, a web site operated by the Times-Picayune, quoted a deputy U.S. marshal and another source, confirming authorities were investigating the video.
“I’m one of the ones that was let out of Orleans Parish jail where they said I escaped, right?” he said speaking directly to the camera wearing the same facial tattoos as Massey. “They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out. I was let out.”
The man in the video also proclaimed his innocence and said he fled the Orleans Parish jail to avoid being charged for a crime he did not commit, NOLA.com reported.
“The reason why I left the jail is because these people were trying to give me a life sentence in both parishes for something that I did not do,” the man said in the video.
The post, which is no longer available as of Monday, June 2, was shared by an account named “@_007chucky” that is no longer searchable, WVUE reported.
USA TODAY has reached out to the officials with the U.S Marshall, FBI and the New Orleans Police Department for comment.
Man rejects statements from arrested jail maintenance worker
The man in the video also said not to believe jail maintenance worker Sterling Williams, 33, the NOLA.com reported. Williams told police one of the inmates threatened to stab him with a homemade knife known as a “shank,” according to an arrest affidavit for Williams.
WVUE reported that the man said in the video that he never tried to “shank” Williams.
Williams was arrested in connection with the prison escape and is accused of being in contact with the escapees alongside several others. He is charged with being a principal to simple escape and malfeasance in office.
Williams allegedly admitted he shut off the water to a cell after one of the inmates requested so, allowing them to escape through the ripped out a toilet and sink unit, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said last month.
Michael Kennedy, a lawyer for Sterling Williams, told USA TODAY last week that his client didn’t know about the escape plan and only shut down the water because of a clogged toilet.
Why was Massey in jail?
Massey is charged with domestic abuse involving strangulation. He’s also charged with theft of a motor vehicle, Orleans Parish records show.
A warrant for his arrest in St. Tammany Parish shows he is wanted for second-degree rape, second-degree kidnapping, domestic abuse involving strangulation and violation of a protective order involving battery stemming from a November incident, a spokesperson for the parish sheriff’s office confirmed with USA TODAY.
He is wanted alongside Groves, who last October was convicted of two charges of second-degree murder and two charges of attempted second-degree murder in connection to a 2018 Mardi Gras shooting.
Three of the escaped inmates were recaptured by the end May 16, the same day as the escape. A week later, two more were found. Within two weeks, authorities had caught all except Groves and Massey. Authorities are offering a $50,000 reward for anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of either of them.
