Merced County jail escapee captured after wild chase

MERCED -- An inmate who fled from Merced County's John Latorraca Correctional Center on Tuesday was captured Wednesday and is back in jail with a new nickname — the Valentine's Day Escapee.

Morgan Hill resident Zachary William Johnson, 32, escaped through a hole in the ceiling in a shower area at the Latorraca facility, which Sheriff Mark Pazin concedes is a weak part of the jail. After getting onto the roof, Johnson threw a blanket over the razor-wire fence and climbed over. He then used a taxi to get to the Los Banos area.

Assisted by a girlfriend in Los Banos, 40-year-old Jeanette Segovia, and his wife in San Jose, 25-year-old Dawn Hathaway, officials say, Johnson was able to get money and secure another taxi to take him to his wife in San Jose, but the trip ended not long after it began.

Sheriff's deputies found that money was being wired to a Western Union in Santa Nella, Pazin said during a news conference Wednesday. Authorities followed a suspicious taxi that left the area while they were running surveillance.

A traffic stop was made near highways 152 and 33, Pazin said. That's when the taxi driver got out and Johnson got behind the wheel and led officers on a chase that lasted more than 39 miles and took more than half an hour "at some breakneck speeds."

As the taxi gained ground on deputies, California Highway Patrol officers noticed the erratic driving and joined in on the chase, Pazin said. The officers radioed ahead to Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department deputies, who joined in the pursuit. The CHP put down a spike strip on Highway 152, stopping the taxi.

Johnson fled the scene and ran into a poultry building near the Gilroy Premium Outlets, but later came out and surrendered, Pazin said.

Johnson was brought to the Merced County Jail, and his wife and girlfriend, who were arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting, were booked into the John Latorraca Correctional Center, Pazin said.

"Right now, he's at the Merced County Jail facility on $970,000 bail for escape, carjacking, possession of methamphetamine — I guess that was a gift from one of his girlfriends or the wife," Pazin said, adding that Johnson apparently "wanted to spend some time with his lady friends on Valentine's Day."

There were 23 other inmates in the dorm-style cell Johnson escaped from, but no one else took part, Pazin said.

Johnson originally was arrested by the Los Banos Police Department in January on charges of felony evading, stalking, resisting arrest, possession of a controlled substance and felony hit-and-run, which resulted in injuries.

"This guy is a true knucklehead," Pazin said. "He was booked by Los Banos PD and replicated what he did in January just now — car jacking, high-speed pursuit — and we just can't put up with that nonsense."

The Sheriff's Department is working on improving security where Johnson escaped from the Latorraca facility to prevent similar escapes in the future, Pazin said.