Captured escapee says prison staff helped him

by KHOU.com Staff

Posted on December 9, 2009 at 6:50 AM

CONROE, Texas—The escaped prisoner who was the focus of a week-long manhunt told a local activist that he had help from the inside. Convicted child rapist Arcade Comeaux said the weapon he used to hijack guards was in his cell for at least three weeks.

Questions still surround the prison system that allowed Comeaux to dupe authorities for years. The supposedly partially-paralyzed man managed to walk away from the guards and right into controversy.
Authorities are asking two questions; why didn’t prison officials realize Comeaux was faking his medical condition, and where did he get the gun?
Local activist Quanell X said Comeaux told him he had help from the inside.

“He named that guard and he also named someone who is involved in medical who had been giving him medical assistance,” Quanell X said.

But prison officials said Comeaux has not shared that information with investigators so there are no arrests at this time.
“This feels like the inmate is running the asylum,” said a former TDCJ staff member who remembers Comeaux clearly.
“He would sit in the food. Of course it would dry and start smelling. He refused to shower, refused to clean himself, basically saying ‘I’m immobile, I need someone to do this for me.’”

The former staff member said Comeaux orchestrated a deliberate campaign of extortion, despite medical reports that he was able to care for himself. He said Comeaux manipulated the system to get health assistance and better housing.
A grand jury on Thursday will hear the case against the convicted sex offender who was captured in northeast Houston Monday morning.
Comeaux is now facing aggravated kidnapping and felony escape charges. He was in custody in the Montgomery County Jail Tuesday, awaiting his hearing. Comeaux, who is currently serving three life sentences, was found when a salesman saw him trying to hitchhike in front of a business on East Little York.

The salesman called HPD, who came and took Comeaux into custody without incident.
Investigators said Comeaux escaped during transport from a prison unit in Huntsville to one in Beaumont.
As the prison van passed through Conroe, investigators said Comeaux pulled out a gun, held two transport guards hostage, handcuffed them in the back of the van, drove the van to Baytown, took the guards’ weapons, put on one of their uniforms and escaped.

Officials launched an extensive manhunt, but Comeaux managed to elude them for seven days before he was captured.
He had been confined to a wheelchair since 1997 when a stroke purportedly left him partially paralyzed, but when he was taken into custody, Comeaux was walking.

He has been in and out of the Texas prison system for 30 years.
Comeaux was first sent to prison in 1979 on three 10-year sentences for rape of a child, aggravated rape of a child and burglary of a building—all out of Harris County. He was paroled four years later.

His parole was revoked and he returned to prison in 1984 to serve a 20-year sentence on a new charge of indecency with a child out of Harris County. He was paroled in 1991 but was in and out of prison for parole violations until 1996.
In June 1998, he was given a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault in Brazos County.
Comeaux was given two extra life sentences after he was convicted of stabbing his wife and another person in 1999. That attack occurred in the Jester III Unit in Fort Bend County when his wife came to visit him. The other person stabbed was a man who tried to stop the attack.

Still, those at the top want to correct the miscommunication between the workers inside prison walls.

“If you are in charge of a prison, and you see there is a disputes between medical’s and correction’s, come to us and ask for laws that would eliminate the controversy, ”said John Whitmire, chairman of the senate criminal justice committee. He is calling for a full investigation of prison and medical staff.

WATCH KHOU VIDEO REPORT HERE

News Alert: Comeaux now on most wanted list

(CNN) -- A Texas inmate in a wheelchair, who escaped on foot from two armed guards as he was being transferred between prisons, is now on the U.S. Marshals' list of the 15 most-wanted fugitives.
Arcade Comeaux Jr., 49, "produced a weapon and fired upon two correctional officers, took them hostage and forced them to drive to Baytown, Texas," the U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement.
He then put the officers in the back of the van and took their weapons and one of their uniforms, the statement said.

Comeaux was serving three life sentences for aggravated sexual assault and two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He escaped Monday during transport from Huntsville, Texas, to Stiles, Texas.
The 6-foot, 200-pound man was shackled and in a wheelchair, "which he had claimed was needed for mobility," Michelle Lyons, director of public information for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Huntsville, said in a statement.

About 45 minutes into the trip, as they were driving through Conroe, 40 minutes north of Houston, the prisoner pulled out a pistol and ordered the guards to drive south to Baytown, east of Houston.
He fired once, but hit no one during the escape about 9 a.m., officials said.
Law enforcement officers found the unharmed officers an hour later.

Comeaux was being transferred so he could be near John Sealy Hospital in Galveston for treatment of the supposed paralysis he had suffered during a reported stroke, officials said.

At least $16,000 in reward money has been offered for information leading to Comeaux's rearrest and a task force of more than 100 investigators is searching for him, focusing on the Houston area, where he grew up and has family.
His escape has led the man who oversees Texas' criminal justice system to call for a shakeup of the prison system.
"I just think enough's enough," said Sen. John Whitmire, the Texas Democrat from Houston who is chairman of the state Senate's Criminal Justice Committee.

"We need a complete shakeup of the leadership of our prison system and/or an outside review by third parties," he told CNN by phone Wednesday. "We just can't have security breaches of this nature."
Whitmire said the guards had failed to pat down Comeaux while he was in his wheelchair and before they began the trip.
"Sure enough, he has a firearm," he said. "The question is, are there others (in the prison system)? I think you have to assume that there are until you find out differently."

So far this year, more than 900 cell phones have been confiscated from the 112 locations that house the state's 158,000 prisoners. "It's pretty rampant," he said.

"I want the director to come forward and tell us what it's going to take" to solve the problem, he said.
John Moriarty, inspector general of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said such lapses are highly unusual in the state's penal system. "We have no open gun investigations other than this one," he said. "The last one was several years ago."
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has been in the job since 2005, did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Snow forecast in Houston area !

On average, once every four years even Houston gets visited by the Snow Gods. Although, this could be the second year-in-a-row for Houston snow. And if snow does indeed fall this Friday as forecasted, it would be the earliest snowfall on record.

Fred Schmud of ImpactWeather said to the Houston Chronicle, “Most of our forecasting data is caught right in the middle, meaning any subtle change in the position of the upper level disturbance will have huge consequences on how much, if any, snow falls across the Greater Houston area."

Right now NOAA is predicting a 70% chance of snow on Friday.

Man assaults sister with hot pie/ faces charges

GALVESTON — A man who smacked his sister in the face with a piece of hot pecan pie on Thanksgiving Day may end up in jail on an aggravated assault charge, a Galveston County sheriff's spokesman said Tuesday.

The hot pie caused first- and second-degree burns and required medical treatment, sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said. A warrant for the brother's arrest was expected to be issued today, he said.
Tuttoilmondo said he could not release the names of the siblings until the arrest warrant was issued but gave this account: The

26-year old brother from Texas City and 23-year-old sister from Alvin began arguing at their parents' home in Algoa about 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

Tuttoilmondo said he could not release the names of the siblings until the arrest warrant was issued but gave this account: The 26-year old brother from Texas City and 23-year-old sister from Alvin began arguing at their parents' home in Algoa about 4 p.m. Thanksgiving Day.

As the dispute grew, the brother threatened to heave a piece of pecan pie that he was warming in a microwave oven, Tuttoilmondo said. An attempt by the mother to calm the argument failed and the brother carried out his threat, shoving the pie in his sister's face.

Sheriff's deputies were called and the sister sought medical treatment for burns to the left side of her face and neck, Tuttoilmondo said. She later tried to have the case dropped, but under Texas law, family violence cases must be prosecuted.

“One thing that gets lost in a story like this, beyond the humor of someone getting hit in the face with a pie, is that this is an issue of family violence,” Tuttoilmondo said.

“This is the type of thing that law enforcement takes seriously.”

Police seek suspect in driveway robbery

By STEFANIE THOMAS
Updated: 12.01.09
Police say an armed suspect who robbed a man in the driveway of his residence may have followed his victim home from a gas station.

According to Humble Police Detective Duke Caruthers, the 31-year-old resident of the Meadowbrook Mobile Home Park in the 2700 block of Wilson Road, accompanied by another male, had just turned into his driveway around 10:30 p.m. Nov. 30 when he was confronted with a “long, black shotgun” pointed at his face.

“The suspect demanded money and, fearing for his life, the [victim] complied by giving him his wallet,” Caruthers said. “The suspect then told the two men not to look at him as he left the scene.”

Caruthers said both men told police the suspect fired a warning shot as he fled the scene on foot, running east on Wilson.

“The [victim] said just prior to the robbery he saw a man who looked like the suspect at the Valero gas station at Will Clayton at Wilson,” Caruthers said.

The suspect is only described as a black male who was wearing a black hoodie. His face was covered by a black bandana.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Humble Police Department at 281-446-7127.

LINK

Christmas in Humble begins with lights, annual parade

The city of Humble's 19th annual Christmas Parade of Lights is on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at 6:30 p.m. on Main Street. This year's theme is the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Humble Observer

By ROYCELYN BASTIAN
Updated: 12.01.09
Standing on both sides of Main Street, spectators will greet participants in the 19th annual city of Humble Christmas Parade of Lights on Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. “This event is just a good way for the community to come out and it is Humble’s way to kick off the holiday season,” Sgt. Perry Burkeen, chairman of the city’s Christmas Parade Committee, said.

The parade will have more than 20 participants, either on a float or walking, that will begin marching east of the rail road tracks on Main Street towards Avenue H where it will turn left towards Higgins. Main Street near U.S. Highway 59 will be closed on Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. and will re-open at 7:30 p.m.

Each entrant will be judged by local residents and winners will be announced within 72 hours of the parade. Applications are accepted until Nov. 30. The entry fee is $35 and a new toy donation per entrant.

“The new toy will be collected the night of the parade and given to the Humble Police Department to deliver to children who are less fortunate,” Chris Green, committee member, said.

After the parade, the committee will hold its annual tree lighting ceremony at Uptown Park. Once the tree is lit, children will be able to sit on Santa Claus’ lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.

In addition to the event, community residents will be able to purchase city of Humble Christmas ornaments from 2005 to 2009 for $10 each. The 2009 ornament is of the old Humble Depot. Ornaments prior to 2005 are $5 each.

In keeping with this year’s theme, “Twelve Days of Christmas,” the committee has listed holiday activities that are taking place around the community. Along with the parade and the decoration contest, other activities include the Kingwood and Kingwood Park high schools’ FFAs’ Santa’s Farm Dec. 4, Christmas in the Park in Kingwood’s Town Center Dec. 5, Old Fashioned Christmas at Jesse Jones Park Dec. 5, Humble High School holiday choir concert Dec. 10, Jesse Jones Park’s Christmas Cheer Dec. 12, First United Methodist Church’s choir program Dec. 13 and 14, and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church of Kingwood’s Live Nativity Dec. 17-19. The committee is looking for three more events it can highlight.

Christmas Lights

The city of Humble’s Christmas Parade Committee will officially start the Christmas season this year with its first ever Humble Christmas Lights and Decoration Contest Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. People can still sign up for the decorating contest and the entry fee to participate is free.

Residential and commercial properties on Main Street, Higgins Street and Granberry Street will be judged based on the festive lights and other holiday-related displays.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Girl’s family files civil suit following sex assault at Humble daycare

An 11-year-old boy was arrested for the sexual assault of a 6-year-old girl at Delk's Happy Times daycare in Humble. The facility has now become the center of a lawsuit brought by the girl's family.


By STEFANIE THOMAS
Updated: 11.05.09
The family of a 6-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted by an 11-year-old boy at Delk’s Happy Times Learning Center on Isaacks Road in Humble has filed suit against the childcare facility and its owner, Carole Delk.

Court documents show that the lawsuit, dated Nov. 4, requests compensation in the form of actual and punitive damages, as well as medical and counseling expenses on behalf of the little girl and her mother. No dollar-amount is specified in the lawsuit. The court documents only identify the young victim as “Jane Doe” to protect her privacy.

The lawsuit was filed after an 11-year-old boy at the daycare fondled the child under a blanket while watching television in June. A report by the Department of Family and Protective Services, which launched an investigation into the incident, stated that the two children were “unsupervised by daycare staff” and that “the caregiver stepped out of the classroom and attended other children in the area.”

Matt Mussilla, the family’s attorney, said the incident should never have happened and that his young client may be left with emotional scars into adolescence and possibly adulthood.

“She had some bruises [after the assault], but aside from the physical pain, there is emotional suffering,” he said. “After this happened, the little girl had difficulty sleeping, a lot of nightmares. She’s been under the care of a therapist. There is no telling how this may affect her in terms of relationships in the future. She is old enough to remember what happened.”

A 2-year DFPS compliance check history shows that a total of five high-risk violations were found at Delk’s, including failure to conduct background checks on employees in Dec. 2008 and again in February of this year. In April 2008, DFPS found that the caregivers in two classrooms could not provide an accurate head count of the children in their care. In Nov. 2008, it was determined that the daycare director herself did not have the required FBI fingerprint check on file. Most recently, a July 21 evaluation again found a medium- to high-risk violation when two children were not strapped into their high chairs properly at feeding time. The results of an Oct. 23 evaluation are still pending.

The lawsuit claims that the sexual assault on Jane Doe is “a case involving profound neglect of a minor,” and that the young victim “was subjected to an unreasonably dangerous condition and activity due to, among other things, woefully inadequate supervision on the part of Defendants and suffered bodily and emotional injuries as a result.”

The petition further states that, “To add insult to injury, even after learning of the events, Defendants denied that they occurred and further denied any wrongdoing.”

In the days following the incident, Carole Delk, who has directed the daycare center for more than a dozen years, decried the DFPS’ official findings saying that the long-time family-operated facility had been “cleared of any wrongdoing.”

“We are not at fault,” Delk told The Observer in June. “When this happened, the teachers were sitting right there in the room, not four feet from the children. Our supervision is perfect. As far as I’m concerned, we don’t even know if this really happened until it’s proven.”

Delk could not be immediately reached for comment regarding the civil suit brought against her and her childcare facility.