Sharpton in Escape Case, but Prosecutor Is ?Upset?

New York Times
By RICHARD G. JONES
Published: January 8, 2008

ELIZABETH, N.J. ? A three-week odyssey appeared to be reaching an end on Monday for one of two men who escaped from a New Jersey county jail here last month, a day after the Rev. Al Sharpton said he had received a request to broker a surrender.

But when Mr. Sharpton said he was ?prepared to move within the next 24 to 48 hours,? the prosecutor where the breakout occurred said he was upset by the delay in turning over the inmate, Otis Blunt, and urged Mr. Sharpton to speed things up.

Three weeks ago, Mr. Blunt, 32, and Jose Espinosa, 20, escaped from the Union County jail here after apparently spending weeks digging through cement blocks, wriggling through a narrow hole they had carved in a wall and then jumping a fence to freedom.

The fallout from the escape took a grim turn last week when a prison guard who the authorities said was mocked in a note left by the escapees apparently committed suicide at his home in central New Jersey.

Mr. Blunt was being held at the jail in connection with the armed robbery of a convenience store clerk in 2005, when he fled on Dec. 15, and Mr. Espinosa was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in a 2005 drive-by shooting.

Despite the communications between Mr. Sharpton and Mr. Blunt?s family, the authorities said on Monday that they did not know the whereabouts of either escapee.

In a statement on Monday, Mr. Sharpton said that he had been conferring with lawyers and the authorities here to work out the final details for Mr. Blunt?s surrender.

?I am prepared to move within the next 24 to 48 hours to personally see if I can physically facilitate Mr. Blunt?s request,? he said.

Mr. Sharpton?s introduction as another character in the widening narrative of the prison escape was greeted coolly by the prosecutor.

The prosecutor, Theodore J. Romankow, expressed dismay that his office was not contacted before Mr. Sharpton issued a news release late Sunday announcing his involvement in the case, and said that he was ?upset? with the timetable given for Mr. Blunt?s surrender.

With prisoners as potentially dangerous as Mr. Blunt and Mr. Espinosa, Mr. Romankow said, two days is too long.

?I would request Reverend Sharpton contact the Union County police and make arrangements to surrender Mr. Blunt immediately,? Mr. Romankow said in a statement. He observed that Mr. Blunt had been indicted for first-degree armed robbery in which a victim was shot in the head.

As the authorities prepared for Mr. Blunt?s possible surrender, family and friends of the prison guard who was mocked in the note gathered in Old Bridge on Monday for his funeral.

The officer, Rudolph Zurick, 40, apparently shot himself in the head last Wednesday before he was to meet with detectives investigating the escape.

In a note left in Mr. Espinosa?s cell, the escapees called Officer Zurick ?a real pal? and appeared sarcastically to thank him for providing ?the tools needed.?

The authorities said there was no evidence that Mr. Zurick, either through laxity or direct complicity, had been involved in the escape.

But some who knew him said that they thought he was distraught over the implication that he was responsible for the escape.

On Monday, word that Mr. Blunt might surrender spread among mourners returning from Mr. Zurick?s funeral. ?The sooner they both come in ? or they?re brought in ? the better for everybody,? said Michael Mitzner, one of Mr. Zurick?s lawyers.

He said that the funeral, which was attended by scores of officers, friends and relatives, was particularly wrenching because of the way Mr. Zurick died and the family he left behind: a wife, Lisa, and a 4-year-old daughter, Nina.

?His wife is doing about as well as you could expect,? Mr. Mitzner said. He paused, and then added, ?But I?m reluctant to say that because nobody knows what it?s like in their shoes.?

In the meantime, investigators spent Monday sorting through dozens of possible leads about Mr. Espinosa and Mr. Blunt after a report about their escape appeared on the television program ?America?s Most Wanted? on Saturday night.

As of midday Monday, the chief of the Union County police, Daniel Vaniska, said it was too early to tell whether any of the tips would prove useful.

?Nothing solid yet,? Chief Vaniska said in a telephone interview. ?We?re running down some leads.?

He said that his office spoke with Mr. Sharpton?s representative early Monday regarding the surrender of Mr. Blunt.

Despite Mr. Romankow?s annoyance, Chief Vaniska said: ?They sounded very cooperative. Right now, we?re in a holding pattern.?

Investigators have been frustrated by a dearth of solid leads on the escapees, the chief said. ?They really went underground on us,? the chief said. ?They must be getting help.?

Chief Vaniska said that he recently visited Mr. Blunt?s mother to ask for her help in finding her son. But he said he was not sure how the family received his appeal.

?I just wanted to approach her as a mother,? he said. ?You know: ?Let us know if he calls you. Here?s all my personal numbers.? But they?re not talking.?

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Sharpton's assistance on Blunt riles prosecutor

Tuesday, January 08, 2008
BY JUDITH LUCAS
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The Rev. Al Sharpton said yesterday he will seek to facilitate the surrender of Union County jail escapee Otis Blunt within the next 24 to 48 hours, a move that encouraged authorities hoping for a peaceful surrender.

The civil rights leader's methods, however, were questioned by Union County Prosecutor Theodore J. Romankow, who said he wants Blunt - formerly of Jersey City and Bayonne - to surrender but is concerned with the way Sharpton's office has handled the issue.

Romankow said he did not like the fact that Sharpton's National Action Network first notified the press Sunday night of Blunt's possible surrender and not Union County authorities. Sharpton's organization then contacted police in New York to propose Blunt's surrender. Union County police reached out to Sharpton yesterday, officials said.

"I am upset that Rev. Sharpton is waiting 24 to 48 hours to 'personally see if I can physically facilitate Mr. Blunt's request' while the escapee is on the loose," Romankow said, quoting from a statement Sharpton issued yesterday afternoon.

Romankow said he wants to know Blunt's whereabouts now.

"I am not happy until I know this man is under arrest," Romankow said. "I don't know where he is or who may be harboring him."

Law enforcement authorities have mounted a massive search for Blunt and fellow inmate Jose Espinosa since they escaped Dec. 15.

"We were hoping for something like this to happen," said Union County Police Chief Daniel Vaniska, who is leading the manhunt. "We want a peaceful surrender."

Blunt, 32, and Espinosa, 20, of Elizabeth, made a daring escape from the jail - the first breakout since the jail opened in 1986.

The Union County Prosecutor's Office said the two inmates used photos of bikini-clad women to hide holes they dug through the cinder block walls of their adjoining cells in a high-security unit. They jumped onto a lower roof, from which they leaped over a 25-foot-high fence topped with razor wire.