Three inmates who busted out of a maximum-security jail in Southern California hatched an escape plan worthy of “The Shawshank Redemption.”
The men, who are charged with crimes ranging from torture and kidnapping to murder, cut through half-inch steel bars and shimmied through plumbing tunnels to get onto the Orange County Central Men’s Jail’s unsecured roof, authorities said.
The accused criminals then used their bedsheets to rappel down to the ground.
Their elaborate plot was likely in the works for weeks if not months, said Lt. Jeff Hollack of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
“This was clearly a well thought-out and planned escape,” Hollack told KTLA.
The men were last seen at the Santa Ana jail at around 5 a.m. Friday.
The FBI is offering a reward of $20,000 for information leading to arrests of any of the escapees, whom the agency identified as Jonathan Tieu, 20, Bac Duong, 43, and Hossein Nayeri, 37.
Tieu is facing charges of murder, attempted murder and shooting in an inhabited dwelling. Duong, an ex-felon, was jailed last month and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, among other charges.
Iranian-born Nayeri was arrested in Prague in November 2014 and returned to California on charges of kidnapping, torture and burglary.