Fugitive's girlfriend charged with aiding breakout at New Orleans jail
where she once worked
[June 10, 2025]
By JACK BROOK
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Authorities arrested a former New Orleans jail
employee on Monday and accused her of aiding in the 10-inmate breakout
at the facility last month, which included an escape by her boyfriend —
a convicted murderer.
The former jail employee, Darriana Burton, 28, is one of at least 16
people arrested and accused of aiding the escape of the inmates on May
16. Authorities said only two remain at large: her boyfriend, Derrick
Groves, and Antoine Massey, who is facing charges of rape, kidnapping
and domestic battery.
The group of inmates escaped by yanking open a faulty cell door,
removing a toilet, crawling through a hole and scaling a barbed wire
fence in the early morning hours when a lone guard left to get food.
Two days before the escape, Groves made a FaceTime video call to Burton
using a jail-issued iPad. During that call, she helped him speak with a
man who police did not identify. The conversation was “intentionally
vague” and appeared to coordinate communication on other, unmonitored
lines, according to a police affidavit for Burton's arrest.
In another call shortly after, the same man warned Groves against
escaping, saying it would be a “bad move” that would trigger a manhunt.
He told Groves to seek release via the judicial system.
The exchange showed Burton's direct role in helping with Groves' escape,
according to the arrest affidavit.
Burton faces a felony charge for conspiracy to commit simple escape.
According to other police reports, Burton also allegedly “picked up” and
transported another fugitive, Lenton Vanburen, to a relative's home
during his escape.
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Law enforcement search for a fugitive that escaped a prison in
New Orleans, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (Chris Granger/The
Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP, File)
Burton began working at the jail in 2022 and was fired the following
year after she was arrested on allegations of bringing a folding
knife and a bag of Cheetos containing tobacco and marijuana into the
jail. The charges were dropped in part due to her lack of criminal
history, and she “successfully completed” a pretrial diversion
program, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office told The
Associated Press.
“I categorically deny any involvement in introducing contraband into
the jail or assisting in any escape,” Burton said May 30 in a text
message to The Associated Press. “These allegations are false and I
intend to fully defend myself through the proper legal channels.”
Agents with the Louisiana Bureau of Investigation and the U.S.
Marshals Service coordinated Burton's arrest after obtaining a
warrant on May 27. She was taken into custody in the Plaquemines
Parish jail, authorities said.
Burton and Groves “were in an on-again, off-again relationship for
three years," dating back to the time when she was still working in
the jail, authorities said.
“We will continue to pursue anyone and everyone who has aided and
abetted these criminals. We will find you, arrest you, and prosecute
you to the full extent of the law," Louisiana Attorney General Liz
Murrill said in a statement. “We will arrest all aiders and
abettors, and we will eventually get Antoine Massey and Derrick
Groves back to prison where they belong.”
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