Escaped Georgia inmates allegedly forced Lyft driver to South Florida, records say

Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including a murder suspect, allegedly commandeered a Lyft driver’s car and drove to South Florida before the driver was rescued and the men were captured, according to court records.

The driver told FBI agents the men used a fake name to order the ride, then put a rope around her neck from behind, dragged her into the backseat and threatened to kill her, according to a court affidavit filed late Tuesday.

The inmates escaped after “compromis[ing]” a portion of a cell inside the DeKalb County Jail, DeKalb County Chief Deputy Temetris Atkins said. Atkins said he was not providing specifics because jail officials do not want other inmates to know the facility’s weaknesses. He said the compromised area has been repaired and that officials are looking at similar areas to fortify them.

DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox described the jail as an “aging facility that’s deteriorating right before our eyes.” The jail is in Decatur, about 10 miles east of downtown Atlanta.

Authorities said the escape was discovered early Monday during a routine security check. Investigators then listened to recorded phone conversations and learned that one inmate had contacted people outside the jail who helped them evade capture, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said.

Brown said the inmates were picked up by an unnamed man and taken to one of their girlfriends’ homes. A Lyft was then ordered using a fake, female name.

Officers tracked the car as it traveled to South Florida using license plate readers, which can alert law enforcement to the locations of wanted vehicles. When officers caught up with the car and tried to stop it, one inmate jumped out and ran, but was arrested along with a second inmate, according to the affidavit.

Court records say investigators also learned the men used the Lyft driver’s credit card to rent a home in Miramar, where officers apprehended the third inmate and rescued the driver.

The driver told investigators she was held in the car for six to 10 hours while the men tried to gain access to her phone and online banking records. After she tried to escape once, she faced “increased threats of being shot, raped, and tortured,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. Brown said the driver is “very traumatized.”

All three inmates were charged with kidnapping and with escape, according to criminal complaints. A lawyer with the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Fort Lauderdale who was appointed to represent Stevenson Charles, 24, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday evening. A Miami attorney representing Naod Yohannes, 25, also did not immediately respond. Court records did not list an attorney for Yusuf Minor, 31.

Charles had been held before the escape on charges including murder and armed robbery. Yohannes and Minor faced charges including armed robbery and arson.

After the escape, the sheriff’s office warned the men might be armed and considered dangerous. Before they were captured, federal authorities issued warnings advising residents to be wary of Charles, who has had several run-ins with law enforcement in Georgia and Florida.

A federal agent wrote in a Monday affidavit tied to the jail escape that Charles had been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping and bank robbery. The agent wrote that on Dec. 5, Charles was turned over to DeKalb County authorities to face the murder charge.

In one of multiple cases involving Charles in South Florida, court records say he is accused of meeting a man through the Grindr dating application and then pulling a gun on him when they met at a Miami residence in 2022. Authorities allege he then drove the man to various Miami-area banks and withdrew money from the victim’s accounts.