Jail escapee sentenced to 3 years hard labor

One of four inmates allegedly involved in an early June 2018 escape from St. Mary Parish jail entered a plea deal earlier this month and was sentenced to serve three years in prison at hard labor.
A second inmate had already entered a plea deal in October 2018 in connection with the same escape and also received a sentence of three years in prison.

William Deans, 40, pleaded guilty Jan. 2 to a charge of simple escape. As part of the agreement, he also pleaded no contest to charges of aggravated battery, violation of a protective order-second or subsequent offense and domestic abuse battery-strangulation in different cases, St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records stated.

A remaining charge of violation of a protective order against Deans was dismissed as part of the plea deal. District Judge Suzanne deMahy sentenced Deans to serve three years in prison at hard labor under supervision of the state Department of Corrections to run consecutive with convictions for which he's serving time, records said.

Authorities reported on the afternoon of June 3 that four inmates had escaped from the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center in Centerville. Those inmates were identified as Deans, Jamie Scarbrough Jr., Tanner Scarbrough and Elias Todd.

With assistance from local agencies, Deans was located on the early morning of June 4 in Morgan City. Two other inmates, brothers Jamie Scarbrough Jr. and Tanner Scarbrough were located the same day and apprehended in Picayune, Mississippi, by the Picayune Police Department, a St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office news release stated.

The final escaped inmate, Todd, was caught later on June 4 after St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies continued to work a number of leads that lead deputies to his capture. Through a investigation, deputies learned that Todd had been dropped off at a home in Berwick. Deputies secured a search warrant for the home and located Todd, the news release said.

Deans was the second inmate involved in the escape to enter a plea agreement. Tanner Scarbrough, now 19, pleaded guilty Oct. 22, 2018, to simple escape and charges of illegally supplying a felon with a firearm and theft of a firearm in separate cases. Charges of illegal possession of stolen firearms, theft of a firearm, possession of firearms with obliterated number or mark and possession of marijuana 14 grams or less were all dismissed as part of a plea deal, court records stated.

Judge Vincent Borne sentenced Tanner Scarbrough to serve three years in prison at hard labor to run consecutive with his other sentences, records said.
Todd and Jamie Scarbrough Jr. still face charges in the escape.

Multiple deputies were fired in the aftermath of the four inmates escapes and a subsequent escape from parish jail June 15 by inmate Jeremy Anthony Perez, who was captured June 19 in Crowley. None of the fired deputies faced criminal charges, but several other people were charged criminally in the case.

The jail's warden was reassigned to a new position with the sheriff's office following the escapes.