U.S.

Cops: Desperado's Dad Busted

February 2, 2001 / 9:44 AM EST / AP

The father of one of the seven Texas prisoners involved in December's breakout was arrested Friday on charges of supplying the getaway car the inmates used, state law officers said.

Raul Rodriguez, the father of Michael A. Rodriguez, and a friend, Patsy Gomez, were held at Karnes County Jail in lieu of $700,000 bond on charges of aiding an escape, said Larry Todd, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. A third person was still being sought.

“We assume father and son were communicating by letter and possibly a third party who may have visited Rodriguez in prison,” Todd said. “We believe they had been planning the escape for at least six months and probably longer.”

The escape was the largest breakout from a Texas state prison in recent history. The seven inmates overpowered prison workers at the Connally Unit in Kenedy, about 60 miles southeast of San Antonio, Dec. 13 and fled in a prison pickup truck.

Two and a half hours later, the prison pickup truck was found abandoned at a nearby Wal-Mart. Investigators had said that someone left a blue and silver GMC Suburban in the Wal-Mart parking lot for the men to use.

The seven were later charged with killing a policeman Dec. 24 while robbing a sporting goods store in Irving. Six of the seven were finally captured in Colorado last week; the other man committed suicide rather than surrender.

Todd said investigators believe the elder Rodriguez furnished the money to buy the Suburban, which had been advertised for sale in a newspaper shortly before the escape, he got Gomez to make the purchase.

The charges against Gomez, 41, and the 61-year-old Rodriguez, are a second-degree felony.

The younger Rodriguez, 38, was serving a life sentence after he admitted paying a hit man $2,000 to murder his wife eight years ago in a scheme to collect $400,000 in life insurance. He remains in Colorado on Friday awaiting extradition proceedings to return him to Texas.

Dallas television station WFAA reported that a fourth person involved in acquiring the vehicle alerted authorities. Investigators say the person was unaware of just what he was involved in until he heard news reports of the escape.