Darriana Burton is a 28-year-old former employee of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office. Authorities say she was arrested Monday on suspicion of helping in the jailbreak at the Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans last month.
According to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, Burton is thought to be the girlfriend of Derrick Groves, a convicted killer who was one of the ten prisoners who broke out on May 16. According to CBS News, she is facing a felony charge of conspiracy to commit simple escape.
Groves is suspected of using a jail-issued iPad to make a FaceTime video discussion with Burton two days before to the escape, assisting him in speaking with an unidentified individual. Burton’s arrest police affidavit stated that their conversation was “intentionally vague” and seemed to coordinate contact on other, unmonitored lines.
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In another call immediately after, the same individual cautioned Groves that fleeing would be a “bad move” that would result in a manhunt. He advised Groves to seek release through the court system.
According to the arrest affidavit, the interaction revealed Burton’s direct role in aiding Groves escape. Other police reports indicate that Burton “picked up” and transferred another escapee, Lenton Vanburen, to a relative’s home during the time he fled.
Burton started working at the jail in 2022 and got fired the next year after being arrested for allegedly bringing a folding knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the facility. Her lack of criminal history helped to have the charges dropped, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press that she “successfully completed” a pretrial diversion program.
“I categorically deny any involvement in introducing contraband into the jail or assisting in any escape,” Burton said May 30 in a text message to The AP. “These allegations are false and I intend to fully defend myself through the proper legal channels.”
After securing a warrant on May 27, agents from the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and the United States Marshals Service arranged Burton’s arrest. According to authorities, she was arrested and taken to the Plaquemines Parish jail.
According to the investigators, Burton and Groves “were in an on-again, off-again relationship for three years,” beginning when she was still employed at the facility.
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At least 16 people have been detained and charged with helping the inmates escape. While most of the prisoners were captured the week after the breakout, Groves and Antoine Massey, who is accused of rape, kidnapping, and domestic violence, are the two escapees still at large.
Meanwhile, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said Monday in a statement, “We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you to the full extent of the law. I’d like to thank the U.S. Marshals Service for executing our warrant for this woman. We will arrest all aiders and abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick Groves back to prison where they belong.”
Murrill said last month on CBS News that Massey and Groves might be in different cities.
According to her, the main networks of the escapees are centered in New Orleans, and it is more difficult for them to move about discreetly because of the popular case.
“They can keep running, but they can’t hide forever,” Murrill told CBS News in May.
The ten inmates escaped by ripping open a defective cell door, removing a toilet, slithering through a hole, and scaling a barbed wire fence in the early morning hours, when a lone guard went to get food.
Some of the escapees were discovered in the city’s historic French Quarter and elsewhere in Louisiana, while two were discovered in Texas after thorough surveillance by US Marshals, according to police.
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