Atwater homicide defendant arrested again after failed jailbreak

A high-profile inmate at the Merced County Jail was arrested again late Tuesday after he managed to cut a hole in the concrete ceiling above his cell in a failed escape attempt, Sheriff Vern Warnke confirmed.

David Lastra, 35, never made it outside the jail on West 22nd Street in Merced. He climbed through the hole and was between the ceiling of his cell and the jail roof when he surrendered to deputies, officials said.

“The public was never in any danger and the system we have of regular bed checks and surveillance worked,” Warnke told the Sun-Star.

Lastra has been in custody since October on a murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty in the slaying of 27-year-old Richard Valentine, who was working as an informant for state parole agents on Oct. 20 when he was gunned down outside an Atwater park.

According to police reports, Valentine was assisting parole agents in their search for Lastra as part of a kidnapping case out of Fresno. It remains unclear whether Lastra knew Valentine was an informant. Police have said the motive for the homicide also is unclear.

Warnke said the failed jailbreak was discovered just before 9 p.m. and the jail was placed on lockdown while deputies searched for Lastra.

Investigators said Lastra used a “makeshift hacksaw” to make the hole and then stacked a plastic chair on the top bunk in his cell to climb through the hole.

Warnke said investigators were still working to determine exactly how Lastra obtained the instrument, which was described as looking like a threaded pipe.

Deputies said they will ask the Merced County District Attorney’s Office to charge Lastra with attempted escape.

He remains in custody without bail at the jail. According to court records, a preliminary hearing in the homicide case has been scheduled for March 21.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Atwater homicide defendant arrested again after failed jailbreak."