Escaped inmate port-a-potty
Cesar Sanchez, 37, was in a transport van being returned from the Cook County Courthouse in Bridgeview to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill.
Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharyn Elman said Sanchez was able to jump out of the van about 2:15 p.m. while it was near 159th Street and Farrell Road.
Police radio alerts indicate Sanchez injured his leg in the jump but was able to limp away.
Numerous police agencies were alerted to the escape, Elman said.
The search moved from the Lockport area to Rockdale near Joliet later in the afternoon after a local business alerted police that an individual matching Sanchez’ description was seen climbing off a delivery truck, the Will County Sheriff’s office said.
A review of surveillance video confirmed the subject to be Sanchez, and the search focused in the Rockdale area — which is 3 miles southwest of Joliet near I-80 — as of 7 p.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office said.
But at 8:45 p.m., dogs tracked him to a Waste Management facility in Rockdale where at least 300 port-a-potties are stored, officials said at a news conference. He was found hiding in one of the port-a-potties after police used an infrared, heat-sensing technology attached to a helicopter.
Sanchez, who has tattoos on his chest of a heart that says “Leticia” and the Virgin Mary on his right arm, is serving a seven-year sentence that began in 2006 for burglaries in Cook and Kane counties.
He has previously been convicted of burglary, shoplifting, robbery, aggravated battery, motor vehicle theft and unlawful use of a credit card.
Suntimes
