NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities arrested a former New Orleans jail employee on Monday and accused her of aiding in the 10-inmate breakout at the facility last month, which included an escape by her boyfriend — a convicted murderer.
The former jail employee, Darriana Burton, 28, is one of at least 16 people arrested and accused of aiding the escape of the inmates on May 16. Authorities said only two remain at large: her boyfriend, Derrick Groves, and Antoine Massey, who is facing charges of rape, kidnapping and domestic battery.
The group of inmates escaped by yanking open a faulty cell door, removing a toilet, crawling through a hole and scaling a barbed wire fence in the early morning hours when a lone guard left to get food.
Two days before the escape, Groves made a FaceTime video call to Burton using a jail-issued iPad. During that call, she helped him speak with a man who police did not identify. The conversation was “intentionally vague” and appeared to coordinate communication on other, unmonitored lines, according to a police affidavit for Burton’s arrest.
In another call shortly after, the same man warned Groves against escaping, saying it would be a “bad move” that would trigger a manhunt. He told Groves to seek release via the judicial system.
The exchange showed Burton’s direct role in helping with Groves’ escape, according to the arrest affidavit.
Burton faces a felony charge for conspiracy to commit simple escape.
According to other police reports, Burton also allegedly “picked up” and transported another fugitive, Lenton Vanburen, to a relative’s home during his escape.
Burton began working at the jail in 2022 and was fired the following year after she was arrested on allegations of bringing a folding knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the jail. The charges were dropped in part due to her lack of criminal history, and she “successfully completed” a pretrial diversion program, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press.
“I categorically deny any involvement in introducing contraband into the jail or assisting in any escape,” Burton said May 30 in a text message to The Associated Press. “These allegations are false and I intend to fully defend myself through the proper legal channels.”
Agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service coordinated Burton’s arrest after obtaining a warrant on May 27. She was taken into custody in the Plaquemines Parish jail, authorities said.
Burton and Groves “were in an on-again, off-again relationship for three years,” dating back to the time when she was still working in the jail, authorities said.
“We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement. “We will arrest all aiders and abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves back to prison where they belong.”
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
