Crime & Safety

Jail Break Accomplices Caught in Suspected Getaway Car

Two people allegedly waiting to give jail escapees a ride were apprehended by sheriff's deputies; the fugitives are still on the run.

near Watsonville on Tuesday morning may have planned their jail break and intended to catch a ride with two accomplices, the Sheriff's Office reported.

But the escape route for Bryan Martin, 29, of Ben Lomond and Blaine Collamore, 22, of Scotts Valley was scuttled when sheriff's deputies searching for the missing inmates struck up a conversation with a man and woman parked on San Andreas Road, according to Sgt. Steve Carney.

Daniel Ballard, 32, and Stephanie Underwood, 25, were arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime.

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"What we think happened is the crooks made their way to where the pickup spot was and the police were contacting the people," Carney said. "So it looks like their attempt to get away was moderately foiled by the response from the deputies."

But Martin and Collamore shook off the police dog tracking them and slipped out of the perimeter law enforcement officers set up in the area to escape in a blue 1995 Honda Civic that they allegedly stole from a nearby home, Carney said. 

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The men had not been apprehended as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. They left the meduim-security jail around 9:15 a.m. during a break from a RISE class, part of a program aimed at reducing recidivism. Martin and Collamore, both behind bars for drug- and theft-related crimes, were nearing the end of the program.

"It looked like there was a little more planning to this than them having the thought to just leave," Carney said.

The car is oxidized blue with a rear bumper sticker that says “Live Aloha" and a California license plate #2BWE696, according to the Sheriff's Office.


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