A San Jose man who broke out of the Santa Clara County Main Jail used eye makeup to cover up a face tattoo that would have otherwise easily identified him and given him away to authorities.
Rogelio Chavez, 33, escaped with his fellow inmate LaRon Campbell, 26, of Palo Alto, by sawing through the bars of their second-story holding cell last week before being captured this week.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, Chavez was under the influence of drugs when he was arrested Wednesday night. He had been in jail since August on charges including burglary, extortion, false imprisonment, resisting arrest and firearms violations.
Campbell, who was arrested on Tuesday night at his sister’s Antioch home, had reportedly been in custody since February 2015 on charges that include robbery, false imprisonment, criminal threats and firearms violations.
Chavez’s face tattoo was significantly less visible in his booking pictures than the photo taken of him when he was first apprehended several months ago.
The Mercury News notes that both men are reportedly expected to face criminal charges in connection with their escape and the destruction of county property.
Pictured here is the window SCC jail inmates Rogelio Chavez and LaRon Campbell escaped from a week ago (look for the bent slats). pic.twitter.com/XIZdozALaQ
— Jason Green (@Jason_T_Green) December 1, 2016
The men were being harbored by friends and family who were also arrested and will likely face charges for harboring fugitives.
This past April, United States Border Patrol was able to recapture Secundino Cornejo, 44; an escaped prisoner who walked away from a minimum security facility in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills in December 2010.
Cornejo had escaped from the Vallecito Conservation Camp in Calaveras County.
Meanwhile, other famously tattooed inmates have enjoyed happier outcomes. Jeremy Meeks, the California man behind the handsome mugshot that went viral in 2014, was released from prison this past March and is now modeling.
Meeks, who quickly garnered the nickname “Hot Mugshot Guy,” was arrested in Stockton, California on five weapons charges and one gang charge back in the summer of 2014 as part of Operation Ceasefire, a multiagency mission involving the Stockton police gang unit, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals Task Force.
His Twitter account purports to show some of his latest pics:
#family pic.twitter.com/SqTPSjYTag
— JEREMY MEEKS (@JMEEKSOFFICIAL) November 22, 2016
Good to be home pic.twitter.com/PSErNWpYSx
— JEREMY MEEKS (@JMEEKSOFFICIAL) November 2, 2016
— JEREMY MEEKS (@JMEEKSOFFICIAL) October 17, 2016
Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter and Periscope @AdelleNaz
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