Fugitive's Girlfriend Charged With Aiding Prison Breakout

Authorities arrested a former New Orleans jail employee on Monday and accused her of aiding in the 10-inmate breakout at the facility last month, which included an escape by her boyfriend—a convicted murderer.

• The former jail employee, Darriana Burton, 28, is one of at least 16 people arrested and accused of aiding the escape of the inmates on May 16. Authorities said only two remain at large: her boyfriend, Derrick Groves, and Antoine Massey, who is facing charges of rape, kidnapping, and domestic battery.

• According to a police affidavit for Burton's arrest, two days before the escape, Groves made a FaceTime video call to Burton using a jail-issued iPad. During that call, she helped him speak with a man whom police did not identify. The conversation was "intentionally vague" and appeared to coordinate communication on other, unmonitored lines, according to the affidavit. In another call shortly after, the same man warned Groves against escaping, saying it would be a "bad move" that would trigger a manhunt. He told Groves to seek release via the judicial system.
• Burton faces a felony charge for conspiracy to commit simple escape, the AP reports. According to other police reports, Burton also allegedly "picked up" and transported another fugitive, Lenton Vanburen, to a relative's home during his escape.

• Burton began working at the jail in 2022 and was fired the following year after she was arrested on allegations of bringing a folding knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the jail. The charges were dropped in part due to her lack of criminal history, and she "successfully completed" a pretrial diversion program, the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office told the AP.
• "I categorically deny any involvement in introducing contraband into the jail or assisting in any escape," Burton told the AP last month.
• Burton and Groves "were in an on-again, off-again relationship for three years," dating back to the time when she was still working in the jail, authorities said.

(More prison break stories.)