The girlfriend of one of the remaining two inmates who left a New Orleans prison last month was allegedly arranged in their escape, authorities said Monday.
Derrick Groves is among the 10 inmates who escaped from the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, according to the Louisian State Police. Since then, eight of the inmates have been captured, but Groves and another inmate, Antoine Massey, remain fleeing, police said.
More than a dozen people have been arrested on suspicion of helping escapes, including another inmate in jail and a prison maintenance worker who is accused of closing the water to the toilet, allowing the escape to eliminate it.
The inmates are going through a cargo dock at the Justice Center of the Parish of Orleans, in New Orleans, on May 16, 2025.
Sheriff’s Office of the Parish of Orleans through Reuters
More recently, Darriana Burton, 28, from New Orleans, was arrested Monday for allegedly helping Groves to escape, announced the office of the Louisian attorney general.
Burton is a former correctional employee of the Sheriff’s office of the Parish of Orleans, according to the office, which described it and Groves had a relationship again and out again for three years.
It allegedly had an “active participation in the planning phase of the escape”, according to the affidavit of its arrest warrant, including the transmission of “information related to the escape” and the communications coordination between forests and people outside the jail.
Two days before the escape, Groves and Burton had a Facetime video call through the ipads of the installation during which it was observed that Burton “held a secondary device against the camera” that showed an unknown man in a separate facetime call, according to the affidavit.
“This conversation remained intentionally vague, since Groves, Burton and the unknown man seemed to recognize that the call was being registered,” said the affidavit, and pointed out that it was implicit that Burton and the unknown man would have a separate call and without supervision so that they allegedly discuss the details of the escape. “
Derrick Groves.
Louisian State Police
Shortly after the initial video call, the three were present in another call during which the unknown man “advised against the escape, calling him a” bad movement “and warning that he would trigger a” human hunt, “said the affidavit.
“This exchange confirmed that Burton had already revealed the exhaust plan to the external contact, actively requesting his participation,” said the affidavit. “It also demonstrates its direct role in facilitating communication and supporting the coordination of the Groves.
Burton has been transported to the Platemine Parish prison and faces a serious conspiracy crime to commit a simple escape, authorities said.
“We will continue chasing anyone and all those who have helped and incorporated these criminals. We will find it, we will arrest it and process it throughout the law,” said the attorney general of Louisiana, Liz Murrill, in a statement. “We will arrest all the assistants and absensors, and eventually we will obtain Antoine Massey and Derrick back to the prison where they belong.”
Burton worked at the Sheriff’s Office of the Parish of Orleans from August 2022 to its termination in March 2023, said the office of the Louisian attorney general. She was arrested and accused for allegedly bringing smuggling to jail and “embezzlement in office”, although the Office of the District Prosecutor of the Parish of Orleans rejected the positions, according to the office of the State Attorney General.
The reward for the arrest of Groves and Massey increased to $ 50,000, the authorities announced at the end of last month, since the police said they believe they are approaching the “dangerous” fugitives.
Groves was sentenced last year for two second -degree murder positions in a shooting of the Mardi Gras 2018 day and faces a life imprisonment without the possibility of probation, prosecutors said. Not related to that case, he also declared guilty of two charges of involuntary homicide, according to the online judicial records.
