PHILADELPHIA.— A third person has been arrested in the escape of two inmates from a Philadelphia prison, one of whom remains on the run, police said.
Police said 21-year-old Michael Abrams was arrested Monday afternoon in Berwyn and faces charges of criminal conspiracy, hindering apprehension, escape and criminal use of a communication facility in the May 7 escape of 18-year-old Ameen Hurst and 24-year-old Nasir Grant. The two, who were in the same unit but in different cells, were gone for nearly 19 hours before officials knew they were missing.
Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Vanore told The Philadelphia Inquirer that investigators believe Abrams was “in communication with” the pair, who cut a hole in a recreation yard fence and fled from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center. He described Abrams as an “associate” of Hurst, who is charged in four homicides.
Court documents indicate that Abrams was awaiting a preliminary hearing in a firearms and weapons case. No attorney was listed for him in the escape-related case. A message was left Monday for his attorney in the earlier case.
Grant, incarcerated on drug and weapons counts, was captured Thursday night after a task force staked out a north Philadelphia address where they believed he was staying. Authorities said he was wearing women’s Muslim clothing including a head covering that obscured his face. He’s now facing escape and conspiracy charges. The U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force is now focused on tracking down Hurst.
A woman was earlier charged with escape, conspiracy, hindering apprehension and criminal use of a communications facility. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that 21-year-old Xianni Stalling is accused of putting Hurst in touch with a potential getaway driver during recorded phone calls he made from jail hours before the escape.
Authorities have also alleged that the escapees were aided by a fellow inmate who’s charged with murder in a brawl outside a famed Philadelphia cheesesteak shop. Thirty-five-year-old Jose Flores-Huerta is charged with criminal conspiracy and escape. He is one of several people charged in the September 2021 death of 28-year-old Isidro Cortez of Queens, New York, outside Pat’s King of Steaks. Flores-Huerta’s lawyer has said other suspects were primarily responsible.
