Inmate who escaped from conservation camp north of Azusa re-captured near Ontario

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ONTARIO — A prisoner who escaped from a conservation camp in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa last week has been re-captured, authorities announced Wednesday.
Rafael Ortega, 20, was found and arrested by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Special Services Unit agents late Monday near Ontario in San Bernardino County, according to CDCR Lt. Alyce von Savoye.
He walked away Friday from the Julius Klein Conservation Camp, a minimum-security facility at 22550 E. East Fork Road, CDCR officials said.
Following a three-day manhunt, authorities found and arrested Ortega about 8:30 p.m. Monday, von Savoye said. He was taken to the California Institution for Men in Chino.
Further details of how Ortega came to be in custody were not available.
Ortega was serving a three-year, eight-month sentence Oct. 12, 2011, after he was convicted of being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm, von Savoye said. Before the escape, he was scheduled to be paroled in May of 2013.
He will likely face more time, however, as officials planned to turn over the escape case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
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