The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office announced that four jail employees are on administrative leave after an inmate escaped the jail for the second time in a years time.
Tra’Von Johnson escaped the jail Thursday night after another inmate, Trevon Wallace, boosted him over a fence in the jail yard.
Officials say they received calls around 10 p.m. from the public questioning whether Johnson, 22, was still in custody. That’s when officials did a headcount and reviewed Johnson’s movements throughout the day.
According to Sheriff Gerald Sticker, inmates flooded a dorm shower around 4 p.m. As deputies pushed the water into the hallway, they secured the dorm.
Sticker said as deputies were cleaning up the water, one employee left the back door open to the jail yard.
At some point, the dorm where the inmates were housed was unsecured for less than 60 seconds.
In that time, Sticker said Johnson and Wallace ran out to the yard where Johnson scaled and jumped the fence.
According to Sticker, Wallace couldn’t get over the fence and walked back to the jail door where a deputy saw him and brought him inside.
Sticker said at that point, employees did not do a headcount. During the night headcount, deputies inaccurately reported all inmates accounted for.
According to Sticker, after reviewing surveillance footage and interviewing employees, it was determined a proper head count was not conducted.
Sticker said when they learned of Johnson’s escape, they notified law enforcement, the victim’s families, and put Johnson in the NCIC database as an escapee within an hour of the jailbreak.
Sticker said his deputies received a tip that Johnson was in the Baptist community. Deputies were in that area on an unrelated case when they approached who they believed was Johnson wearing different clothing.
The person ran into the woods and Sticker said deputies searched until 3 a.m. for him but exhausted their efforts.
Sticker encouraged Johnson to turn himself in, and apologized to the community for the escape.
Johnson was awaiting trial for his alleged role in a 2022 Hammond-area home invasion that killed a man and injured the victim’s child.
Johnson is also one of the four inmates who escaped from the Tangipahoa Parish Jail in May 2024.
TPSO said it is alerting victims and communicating with Johnson’s relatives and known associates. Johnson is from Tickfaw and has ties to the Hammond-Pumpkin Center area.
If you have any information on Johnson’s whereabouts, call Crime Stoppers of Tangipahoa’s tip line at 1-800-554-5245.
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