The prison guard who was on duty when a convicted murderer escaped from Chester County Prison in Pennsylvania has been fired.
A Chester County spokesperson confirmed to NBC News on Friday that the prison guard, who is an 18-year veteran of the prison, was fired on Thursday. He has not been publicly identified.
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The guard who was fired had a cell phone in the tower, which is a violation of Chester County Prison policy, the Chester County spokesperson said.
The manhunt for Danelo Cavalcante, 34, began on Aug. 31. Around 400 law enforcement authorities are assisting in the search that has entered its ninth day, officials said. Cavalcante, a Brazilian national, was convicted of first-degree murder on Aug. 16 in the 2021 death of his former girlfriend, Deborah Brandao, 33.
He received a sentence of life without parole last week and is currently wanted in Brazil for another murder.
Surveillance video showed Cavalcante stretching himself between brick walls to push himself onto the roof. He was able to bypass the razor wire, deemed sufficient by security advisers, installed on the roof after another inmate, Igor Bolte, escaped in a similar way. Bolte, however, was captured about five minutes after escaping.
Cavalcante scaled the wall in the exercise yard and made his way onto the roof without being spotted by a tower officer or on surveillance video in a control room, acting warden Howard Holland said during a news conference on Wednesday.
The tower officer was placed on administrative leave. It’s unknown if that officer was the same prison guard who was fired on Thursday.
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Several schools were closed on Tuesday, with closures extended into Wednesday due to the manhunt. He was spotted on the property of Longwood Gardens, causing officials to expand the 2-mile search area for the escaped inmate on Tuesday. Cavalcante has been spotted eight times as of Friday night.
A reward of up to $20,000 is being offered for information that leads to his capture.
