Inmate who escaped from Merced County Jail captured

Merced Sun-Star — One of three inmates who escaped Saturday from the Merced County Jail has been captured.

Brandon Crane, 29, was taken into custody around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday by the Merced County Sheriff's STAR Team and the AB 109 Team during a vehicle stop on southbound Interstate 5, west of Gustine, according to Deputy Delray Shelton, sheriff's spokesman.

Also inside the car was Sudi Dumaka Muru Johnson, 27, who was taken into custody on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime. Inside the car, deputies also found a small amount of marijuana. Crane was booked into the Merced County Jail, where he’s being held without bail. Johnson is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

In addition to escape, Crane's being held on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, violation of parole and various other firearm-related charges.

Crane, along with inmates Felipe Angel Lopez-Valle, 26, and Manuel Carreno Garcia, 25, escaped from the John Latorraca Correctional Center on Saturday after moving a fluorescent light fixture in their housing unit and making a hole in the ceiling.

Through the opening, they escaped onto the roof of the facility, jumped to the ground and scaled the security fence. Lopez-Valle and Garcia remain at-large, according to Shelton.

Riverbank resident Lopez-Valle is wanted for escape, deportation proceedings, resisting and obstructing arrest, receiving and possession of stolen property, vehicle theft and driving on a nonvalid license. He is Latino with black hair and brown eyes. He stands about 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs about 216 pounds. continue reading...