An inmate who vanished nearly 13 years ago from a prison camp in California has been arrested in New York City, corrections officials say.
Eduardo Hernandez, who disappeared from the Delta Conservation Camp in Suisun City in November 2011, was taken into custody without incident on May 20 in New York, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).
“Hernandez was sentenced to thirteen years for carjacking with an enhancement for use of a firearm,” it said in a recent statement announcing his arrest, adding that Hernandez will be extradited back to California and could face escape charges.
“Since 1977, 99 percent of all people who have left an adult institution, camp, or community-based program without permission have been apprehended,” the CDCR added.
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Eduardo Hernandez was arrested without incident on May 20 in New York City, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says. (CDCR/Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
During Hernandez’s escape in 2011, he fled with another inmate – Jose Padilla – who remains on the run, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper reports that both men had last been seen early in the morning of Nov. 15, 2011 and escaped while wearing orange jeans and shirts with the label “C.D.C.R. prisoner” on them.
The CDCR says on its website that the “primary mission” of the Delta Conservation Camp in California’s Bay Area is to “provide incarcerated fire crews for fire suppression in the Sonoma, Lake, Napa Unit and Solano County areas.”
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California Department of Corrections inmate fire crews from Delta Conservation Camp pull down low-hanging branches while working with Cal Fire to help reduce the risk of a wildfire on May 12, 2014, in Yountville, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Hernandez’s capture comes after another inmate was detained following his escape from the camp in mid-May.
James Xiong, who most recently had been sentenced to “one-year, four months for possessing/owning a firearm by a felon or addict,” fled from the Delta Conservation Camp on May 13, the CDCR says.
James Xiong, another inmate who was recaptured after escaping from the same camp as Eduardo Hernandez.
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He was then tracked down in Monterey around two weeks later, where “officers were required to use physical force and a taser to take him into custody,” the CDCR added.