New Orleans jail escapee posts social media video proclaiming innocence

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(Reuters) -A purported New Orleans jail escapee asked President Donald Trump and “the world” for help to get a defense lawyer to prove his innocence, in a social media video posted on Tuesday.

Antoine Massey is one of two fugitives still at large from the May 16 jailbreak, when 10 inmates escaped from the Orleans Justice Center. The other eight have been recaptured.

“I’m asking for help from the world, from … Donald Trump,” the man says in the video, identifying himself as Massey. He also appealed to celebrities Kim Kardashian and Lil Wayne, among others.

“They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out. I was let out,” he said.

Massey, 32, who is accused of several crimes including rape and kidnapping, broke out of jail on two prior occasions, and two other times cut off an ankle monitor, NOLA.com reported, citing authorities.

The same news website, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, said the video was recorded at a family home less than three miles (5 km) from the jail. Police searched the home but Massey was not there, NOLA.com reported.

At least eight people have been arrested on suspicion of aiding the escape, including one person accused of aiding Massey.

One of those suspects is a maintenance worker at the jail who admitted he turned off the water supply to a cell at the request of one inmate, who then tore a sink and toilet from the wall and fled through the hole, officials said.

Other alleged conspirators were accused of providing transportation or money or being accessories after the fact, state police said.

Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a statement her office was aware of the video “that appears to show Antoine Massey.”

“If the individual depicted in the video is indeed Antoine Massey, we strongly urge him to come forward and turn himself in to the proper authorities,” the sheriff said.

Reuters could not verify the video’s authenticity, but face tattoos and facial hair on the man in the video seem to match those from a photo of Massey released by the sheriff’s office.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Stephen Coates)