Escaped Inmate Spotted, Eludes Police

A jail inmate who commandeered a county truck and escaped from a work crew in Fullerton over the weekend was spotted riding a bicycle on Monday, but managed to elude police.

A Garden Grove police officer spotted Enrique Chavez Ruvalcaba, 21, about 9:45 a.m. at Willowbrook Lane and Chapman Avenue, on the border of Garden Grove and Anaheim, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Pursued by police, he rode a short distance north before he abandoned his bicycle and headed into an apartment complex in the 2300 block of Willowbrook, Amormino said. Police cordoned off 12 square blocks and searched with dogs, but gave up around noon.

“It’s a huge complex,” Amormino said, adding that the James A. Musick Branch Jail fugitive was wearing a long-sleeved black Nike sweatshirt and bluejeans. “We are positive it was him.”

Authorities confiscated the bicycle and a backpack containing a newspaper story recounting Sunday’s escape, according to Amormino.

Ruvalcaba, of Garden Grove, was assigned to a crew cutting weeds and clearing storm drains near Gilbert Street and Carol Drive when he drove off in a truck in which a supervisor had left the keys.

Ruvalcaba abandoned the truck, which carries a portable toilet, in a Fullerton alley. Authorities found it Sunday night,

Ruvalcaba was scheduled to be released March 14, Amormino said.

“Now he’s facing charges for felony escape and the unlawful taking of a vehicle -- he’s probably going to get at least a couple more years in prison,” Amormino said.

He said the search was continuing and that it was only a matter of time until Ruvalcaba is caught.

“One thing is for sure,” he said, “he won’t be returning to a minimum-security facility.”