U.S. Marshals: Arrested fugitive escapes Wayne County Jail

By Ron Savage
Fox 2 News

DETROIT (WJBK) -- The manhunt continues after Rocky Marquez escaped from the Wayne County Jail. The 34-year-old is described as very clever and dangerous.

Marquez escaped from a county jail in Phoenix in May.  He conspired with another inmate.  They switched identities, according to the U.S. Marshals in Arizona, and Marquez simply walked out with several inmates who were all scheduled for release.

After eight months on the run, Marquez was arrested in Michigan.  Ten days ago he was found hiding out in a home in Detroit.  He has family members who live in the city.

Marquez was wanted for jail escape, as well as allegations of fraud, forgery, witness tampering, misconduct involving weapons, perjury, driving under the influence and failure to stop.

The U.S. Marshals deputy chief in Phoenix, Fidencio Rivera, confirmed for me that his preliminary information is Marquez pulled the exact same stunt in Detroit that he did in Arizona.  He switched identities with another inmate and Sunday morning Wayne County Sheriff's deputies allowed Marquez to simply walk out the door with other inmates who were all scheduled for release.

You need to order extra eggs for faces of Sheriff Benny Napoleon's jail staff.  No one at the jail even knew Marquez was gone until 4:30 Friday afternoon.

All of this information regarding the escape in Detroit came from the U.S. Marshals out of Phoenix.

After our story aired, Sheriff Napoleon spoke with Huel Perkins live and said, "We are looking at very closely as to how this did, in fact, happen and who was complicit in assisting him with this escape. We are reviewing the tapes. We are reviewing the computer logs. We are reviewing every aspect of the release of this particular prisoner and to determine where the fault lies. We have a pretty clear idea of what we believe transpired and certainly we have an investigation that is ongoing and we will look at the process to see whether or not our policies and procedures were, in fact, followed.  If they were not, then obviously someone will have to take some severe disciplinary action.  The most important thing is that we are working very closely with the U.S. Marshal Service to attempt to locate this person."

For more of their conversation, click on the second video in the player above.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

The U.S. Marshals Service has a hot line for reports of fugitives at 800-336-0102.