Newport man escapes jail, briefly

Deepa Bharath

A 41-year-old Newport Beach man who almost pulled off a daring escape

from an Orange County jail with another inmate early Tuesday morning

was arrested again the same afternoon in Los Angeles, officials said.

Mark Thomas Georgantas was accused of conspiracy to defraud and

grand theft and was awaiting trial at the minimum security James

Musick Jail in Irvine, Orange County Sheriff spokesman Jim Amormino

said.

Georgantas was caught while trying to get away in a stolen

vehicle.

Amormino said Georgantas and 24-year-old James William Costilow of

Riverside “left their barracks sometime between midnight and 5 a.m.”

on Tuesday.

They threw thick jail blankets over a 15-foot fence that had two

rows of barb wire and managed to jump over it, Amormino said.

They tried to jump over another similar fence, but the sheets they

used were thin and ended up tearing.

“It looks like they may have been scratched, because there was

some blood on the wall there,” he said.

They then used a pole to pry open a storm drain cover that was

embedded in a wall, Amormino said.

He said that at about 9 a.m., Georgantas called a female friend,

who did not know he had escaped, to come and pick him up at the

corner of Culver and Trabuco Canyon Drive.

“When she arrived, he pushed her out of the car and drove away,”

Amormino said.

Investigators spotted him at about 1 p.m. in Alhambra and tried to

stop him. A pursuit ensued through Alhambra, El Monte and Downtown

Los Angeles. Georgantas was finally forced to stop by California

Highway Patrol officials on the Hollywood Freeway, Amormino said.

Costilow is still at large.

Amormino said Georgantas could face several charges, including

escaping from jail, carjacking, evading arrest, hit-and-run, robbery

and assault.

“He’s now being held in Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana, which is

a maximum security facility,” he said.

Georgantas is scheduled to be arraigned today at Harbor Justice

Center in Newport Beach.

Such escapes seldom happen in Orange County, Amormino said.

“They are rare,” he said. “And escapes like this one are extremely

rare.”