How Junior Busted Out of Jail and Into Our Hearts

More info on how 20-year-old burglary suspect Francisco “Junior” Puemas broke out of the LAPD’s 77th Division lockup from the LA Times this morning.

1) Junior took a penny, sharpened it and began chipping at a holding cell wall made of drywall and mesh.

2) Puemas intentionally became a nuisance to officers by asking “inane” questions, in order to lull them into ignoring him, said LAPD Capt. Bill Murphy.

“He would say all kinds of stuff, like ‘Hey, I want food.’ He engaged whoever he could in conversation” Murphy said. “He was real smart, he was really street smart. He knew how to engage people and aggravate them. That was part of his plan.”

3) With annoyed officers not paying attention to him, Puemas cut a hole 15 inches by 9 inches with his sharpened penny into the front of the holding cell.

4) He crawled through and made his way down a corridor about 18 feet from the watch commander’s office.

5) Junior went through two interior doors and then through a fire door with an alarm that has not worked in more than a year.

“That door, unfortunately, led into 77th Street,” Murphy said.

How do we know all the details? Junior was picked up a day later, and proud of his escape, eagerly shared with police details about how he did it.