The district attorney has filed felony charges against two women authorities think tried to help three Oklahoma County jail inmates who tried to escape earlier this month.
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Inmates David Lee Salazar, 21, Orlando Mark Cooks, 31, and Courtney Dewayne Watts, 23, took eight detention officers hostage during the May 8 escape attempt before being captured just outside the jail's front doors — the last line of defense before freedom, Sheriff John Whetsel said.
The women charged are the sister, Amber Maria Arroyo, 22, and girlfriend Hayle Dawn Primeaux, 22, of Salazar, who Whetsel called "the ringleader.”
The 100-count felony case accuses the women and inmates of conspiracy, attempting to escape a penal institution, having weapons in a penal institution, kidnapping, robbery and other crimes related to the failed escape.
All five are being held in the Oklahoma County jail, Whetsel said.
Authorities arrested the women after the Oklahoma County district attorney's office initiated an investigation to determine whether the escape could have been an inside job, which investigators found was not true, District Attorney David Prater said.
Recordings of phone conversations between the inmates and the women helped investigators discover that the women drove the getaway car to the jail's parking lot and waited there for the prisoners to escape.
