Security lapses allowed California inmate to escape, new details show. He evaded capture for weeks
It was a little after 8 a.m. on a Friday last month when the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office received a phone call.
Did it know where Caleb Duerr was?
Duerr, 39, was an inmate at the county’s jail in Quincy, about 100 miles northeast of Sacramento. The Army veteran was accused of assaulting and threatening his wife and twice violating a restraining order.
At the time of the phone call he was supposed to be in a yard at the jail. In reality: He was gone.
Those and other details about Duerr’s Sept. 27 escape emerged in recent interviews with county officials, providing the most complete look yet at how he got away. New information reveals lapses in the jail’s security and police response that likely allowed him to break out and stay undetected for nearly three weeks, causing fear and uncertainty in the rural community. Deputies arrested him on Oct. 17.
No one saw Duerr make his way through two chain link fences at the jail, said Plumas County Undersheriff Chad Hermann. Duerr used a tool that he found at the jail, he said. Hermann declined to specify what type of tool, citing an ongoing investigation.
He also said it was unclear what tool Duerr used on the second fence. Duerr, he said, isn’t talking to deputies.
The holes he made in both fences weren’t gaping, but he pried them open enough to get out, said Plumas County District Attorney David Hollister. There was surveillance footage of the area leading up to the fences but not of the fences themselves, Hollister said.
“It was a very old system that was quite honestly horrible,” Hermann said.
In June, the Sheriff’s Office announced the opening of a brand new jail, but had not yet moved inmates into the new facility. It did so within a week of Duerr’s escape.
Before the Sheriff’s Office knew he was gone, Duerr headed to a nearby auto parts store. Deputies suspect he had taken off the top part of his blue jail uniform, Hermann said.
At the store, Duerr met a man who gave him a ride. Hermann said deputies don’t believe the driver knew Duerr.
“He thought it was a homeless dude trying to help,” the undersheriff said.
The two traveled east. Hermann said Duerr borrowed the driver’s cell phone and made at least one call. The driver then dropped Duerr off near Beckwourth, a small community about 30 miles away from the jail. He was last seen walking on a county road near state Highway 70.
Law enforcement officers eventually went to the area where he was dropped off. But Duerr was gone.
“We were probably behind about 45 minutes to an hour,” Hermann said.
“There were undoubtedly missteps at the onset in that first hour that I hope that everybody learns from,” said Plumas County Supervisor Greg Hagwood, who retired as the sheriff in 2019.
Hagwood still has questions about the escape. So does Dwight Ceresola, another county supervisor. Both said they weren’t briefed by the Sheriff’s Office.
“It would be nice to know how it happened,” Ceresola said.
Hermann said the agency will complete an internal review soon and share details with county supervisors.
When asked how Duerr went undetected for so long, Hermann said he didn’t know.
“It would only be assumptions.”
The Sheriff’s Office said he has family and friends in California, Nevada and Oregon, creating a large area to search.
Family members did not respond to several phone calls and emails from The Sacramento Bee requesting comment.
Within days of the escape, a local judge and Hollister, the district attorney, received emails that the Sheriff’s Office believes from Duerr, Hermann said. The undersheriff declined to discuss what the messages said. So did Hollister and the judge.
In July, Duerr’s attorney Chris Parkhurst raised concerns that he might not be competent to stand trial, Hollister said. His domestic violence case was suspended pending an evaluation.
Parkhurst declined to discuss Duerr’s behavior with The Bee but confirmed he asked for the competency evaluation. He said all he knew about the escape came from what the Sheriff’s Office had publicly released.
Eventually, Hermann said the agency got a lead that led them to Duerr’s home in Johnsville, a community of about 20 people in the southern part of the county and about 15 miles from the jail.
Deputies went to the home and waited. They saw movement inside. Officers from several other agencies arrived to help. Duerr was called out of the house and surrendered without incident.
Hermann said deputies didn’t know how many days he had been there.
