Handcuffed teens fled from car in Rincon Valley while being transferred

Two 16-year-old boys escaped briefly from Sonoma County juvenile correction counselors charged with their care while they were being transported from a camp to juvenile hall Wednesday afternoon.

The teens were under investigation for affiliating with a gang and intimidating others while being held at a probation camp in Forestville, said Tom Coleman, deputy chief probation officer.

Two others, ages 16 and 17, under investigation for the same charges, escaped from the camp Tuesday night and remain unaccounted for.

About 20 juveniles live, work and go to school at the camp at any time.

Coleman said the camp is an open facility without fences or locks and that juveniles are free to walk away from the camp, even though a juvenile judge committed them to the facility.

?There are no fences surrounding the property. If they want to leave, they leave,? Coleman said. ?It is worrisome that these boys are out there unsupervised and not where they are supposed to be, but I don?t feel like they are a danger to the community.?

The two 16-year-olds escaped from the probation car in Rincon Valley at about 2:30 on Wednesday afternoon, while the car waited at a red light on Highway 12 at Melita Road, Coleman said.

Santa Rosa police, who assisted with finding the teens, said they were handcuffed and wearing red jumpsuits when they escaped.

Coleman said the car transporting the teens was new and it is not typical of probation cars to have the ability for offenders to let themselves out. Two juvenile correction counselors were in the front of the car while teens were being held in the backseat. The car is ?caged? with a barrier between the front and back seat, Coleman said.

He added it was unclear how the teens, whose hands were handcuffed behind their backs, got out of the car.

?Typically in caged vehicles we can secure kids without them having a way to open the door,? Coleman said.

Probation officials called the Santa Rosa Police Department for help after the teens fled the car at 2:27, Santa Rosa Sgt. Lisa Banayat said.

But help was delayed because the cell phone call was dropped several times before police could determine the probation vehicle?s location.

The search lasted 40 minutes before the teens were found and taken back into custody.

Coleman said they face charges that they have violated probation.