SOLEDAD — Less than 24 hours after being reported missing, authorities apprehended two California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) inmates who escaped from the minimum-support facility at Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) on Sunday, May 6.
At approximately 2:45 a.m. this morning, CDCR Special Service Unit and Fugitive Apprehension Team officers, operating on information developed during the investigation, located Richard P. Almanza, 23, and Jonathan J. Damiano, 35, at a hotel in the Del Paso Heights area in Sacramento. They were quickly taken into custody without incident, and are being transported back to SVSP.
Almanza and Damiano were reported missing at approximately 8:55 a.m. on Sunday morning. Notification was immediately made to local law enforcement agencies to assist in the search.
Almanza was received by CDCR in July 2016, from Santa Barbara and is serving a four year, 8 month sentence for burglary in the first degree and manufacturing/possession of a blackjack as a second striker. Damiano was received by CDCR in August 2017 from Sacramento and is serving a three year sentence for burglary in the second degree. Both may face charges in this incident.
SVSP opened in May 1996 on approximately 300 acres in Monterey County. The institution provides long-term housing for approximately 3,500 minimum- and maximum-custody male inmates.
Since 1977, 99 percent of all offenders who have left an adult institution, camp or community-based program without permission have been apprehended.
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Contact: Lt. Eduardo Mazarigeos, (831) 678-5554