A woman accused of aiding in the jailbreak at the Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans last month was arrested on Monday, authorities said.
Darriana Burton, 28, is a former Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office employee and is believed to be the girlfriend of Derrick Groves, a convicted murderer and one of the 10 inmates who escaped on May 16, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office said. She is facing a felony charge of conspiracy to commit simple escape.
Burton is one of at least 16 people who have been arrested and accused of aiding the escape of the inmates — what Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has called the worst jailbreak in recent state history. Most of the inmates were found in the following week of the escape, but two escapees remain at large: Groves and Antoine Massey, who is facing charges of rape, kidnapping and domestic battery.
“We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Monday in a statement. “I’d like to thank the U.S. Marshals Service for executing our warrant for this woman. We will arrest all aiders and abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves back to prison where they belong.”
Louisiana Attorney General’s Office via AP
The group of inmates escaped by yanking open a faulty cell door, removing a toilet, crawling through a hole and scaling a barbed wire fence in the early morning hours when a lone guard left to get food. The jailbreak went unnoticed for hours.
Two days before the escape, Groves allegedly made a FaceTime video call to Burton using a jail-issued iPad and 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 a police affidavit for Burton’s arrest.
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.
The exchange showed Burton’s direct role in helping with Groves’ escape, according to the arrest affidavit.
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 Associated Press.
“I categorically deny any involvement in introducing contraband into the jail or assisting in any escape,” Burton said May 30 in a text message to The AP. “These allegations are false and I intend to fully defend myself through the proper legal channels.”
Agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service coordinated Burton’s arrest after obtaining a warrant on May 27. She was taken into custody in the Plaquemines Parish jail, authorities said.
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.
Some of the escaped inmates were found within the city’s famous French Quarter and others elsewhere within the state of Louisiana, but two of them were found in Texas following extensive surveillance efforts by the U.S. Marshals, authorities have said.
Last month, Murrill told CBS News that Groves and Massey may be in other cities.
Murrill has said the escapees’ primary networks are based in New Orleans, and the high-profile case makes it tougher for them to walk around without being noticed.
“They can keep running, but they can’t hide forever,” Murrill told CBS News in May.
