LEBANON -- Three Warren County Jail inmates who squeezed through a chain-link roof to freedom Tuesday night planned their escape and likely had outside help, investigators said Wednesday.
The day after the escape, Warren County Sheriff's deputies focused on finding the men -- Johnny Paul Coffman, 24, of Middletown, Rashad Ajin Gary, 20, of Dayton, and Matthew David Henderson, 19, of Fairborn -- and determining how they got away.
Col. Del Everett, chief deputy of the Warren County Sheriff's Office, surmised that escape plans got under way when 17 inmates in the jail's maximum security pod were inthe jail's day room.
The day room, where inmates read, play games and watch television, connects to an outside recreation area that is enclosed by concrete walls and a chain-link roof.
One of the inmates who escaped asked a corrections officer if he could enter the recreation yard to look for his identification card.
The guard said yes.
Inmates are not allowed into the recreation area after dusk. "The corrections officers are allowed some discretion," Warren County Sheriff Tom Ariss said. "Was it a reasonable request? I would say yes."
On his way back from the outside recreation area, the inmate is suspected of breaking a lock on the door that leads back into the day room, Col. Everett said.
Shortly after the inmate returned, the three somehow left the day room and returned to the recreation area, Col. Everett said, possibly through the door with the broken lock.
Sheriff Ariss said deputies are investigating whether the corrections officer was deliberately distracted so the three inmates could leave the day room undetected.
Once outside, the trio twisted through a wired part of the Cyclone fence ceiling, climbed onto the jail's roof and jumped 15 feet to the ground, outside the jail's perimeter.
The men removed their orange jail jumpsuits and bolted wearing white T-shirts and boxer shorts, Capt. Gary Miller said.
They ran past the Warren County Juvenile Detention Center and were last seen criss-crossing lawns in a subdivision across Ohio 48 in Lebanon.
The jail break was discovered at 9:55 p.m. when corrections officers and inmates heard noises on the roof, Capt. Miller said. Investigators surmised that the trio split up shortly after escaping and may have had street clothes given to them by friends on the outside.
Warren County sheriff's deputies used police dogs and helicopters Wednesday to search for the inmates. They found a man picking berries in a field in Clearcreek Township, but no sign of the inmates.
The three are considered dangerous.
Mr. Coffman, who grew up in Waynesville, was jailed last month for violating his parole by allegedly breaking into a Springboro urgent care center in April. He was paroled in May 1997 after serving 3 1/2 years at Chillicothe Correctional Institution for a November 1993 aggravated robbery in Harveysburg.
Mr. Gary and Mr. Henderson are each awaiting trial on two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated assault for allegedly robbing a Springboro gas station together in January.
"Let's put it this way, they're all in for aggravated robbery or aggravated assault," Sheriff Ariss said. "They're not your typical neighborhood kids."
Mr. Coffman's father, Ralph Coffman of Waynesville, said he heard about the escape around 10 p.m. Tuesday on his home scanner. He said his son has not contacted him.
"I want him to turn himself in," Mr. Coffman said. "I can't believe he did what he did."
Ralph Coffman said his son is not violent, but has a severe drug problem. "I talked to him last week and he admitted he needs help. He's obsessed with the drugs. He's not violent at all; he's just messed up."
On average, the jail houses about 150 inmates a day. The last escape from the Warren County Jail was April 25, 1995. The escapee was apprehended shortly after he got away.
Inmates at the jail were kept indoors Wednesday, Col. Everett said, because the door that leads to the outside recreation area remained broken.
