‘They picked the wrong county:’ Teens put back behind bars after St. Johns County jailbreak

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A three-hour-long search in St. Johns County Monday morning for four teens - all convicted felons - who broke out of the St. Johns County Juvenile Detention Center.

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“The men and women of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, we don’t tolerate this in St. Johns County and we’re not gonna tolerate this,” warned St. Johns County sheriff Rob Hardwick Monday morning.

According to Sheriff Hardwick, the breakout occurred at around 5:30 a.m. on Monday, October 14, when one of those four teens attacked a corrections officer, took their keys, and let four other teens out of the cells. However, only four of the five teens successfully escaped by jumping a fence.

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After three hours of tracking the footsteps through the woods and a K9 unit tracking their scent, a neighbor called in the sheriffs office saying they saw four teens matching the description. The four teens were then found hiding in a car off Dallas Street in Hastings and put back behind bars.

“I’m sorry to the public that it took three hours, but our deputy sheriffs were working through extreme conditions with mud,” Sheriff Hardwick explained Monday morning. “They got K9 tracks all morning, our air assets were looking at this, they picked the wrong county to do this type of crime in.”

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Secretary of Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice, Dr. Eric Hall, added that an ongoing investigation is now underway to look if any changes in security are needed to prevent future situations like this.

“We’ll continue to work with law enforcement to make sure that not only those juveniles are held accountable, but going back to looking at were there any procedures or other things that we need to consider so that again operationally the program is always safety and security at the front of mind at what we do,” Dr. Hall reassured.

Sheriff Hardwick says the five teens are now still in the process of being interviewed before additional charges are decided on.

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