Man convicted of drug charges in Mississippi escaped from California prison camp

Published 6:12 am Monday, February 15, 2021

Authorities in California said they were searching for an inmate who walked away from a minimum-security prison camp.

Federal officers and police were searching Saturday for 34-year-old Xavier Terrazas, who was reported missing from the Satellite Prison Camp of the Federal Correctional Institution Mendota, The Fresno Bee reported.

Officials determined around 1 a.m. Saturday that Terrazas was missing from the camp, which has about 107 men in custody.

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Terrazas was serving a term of almost 11 years for a 2016 conviction in Mississippi for conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

The prison said in a statement that the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and local police and sheriff’s agencies were notified. An internal investigation also was started.

Terrazas was accused of distributing crystal meth or ice, a pure form of methamphetamine, in Harrison County, Mississippi. He was arrested in Arizona in 2014.

Terrazas missed a plea hearing before he was arrested and his case transferred to a federal court in Mississippi.

Terrazas pleaded guilty in June 2016 and he was sentenced to 130 months in prison. He was due to be released in February 2025.