Sonoma County jail escapee quickly nabbed after manhunt

An inmate of the North County Detention Facility near the Sonoma County airport had only a short window of freedom after escaping over a tall fence capped with coils of razor wire late Friday night.

The 22-year-old escapee, Marc Andrew Schwartz, briefly became entangled in the wire but managed to free himself and drop to the ground. He then jumped a wooden fence and headed toward Skylane Boulevard, according to a post on the Sonoma County Sheriff's website.

Authorities flooded the area with more than 30 sheriff's deputies and officers from other agencies, including the Santa Rosa Police Department's K9 Unit, the California Highway Patrol, the Santa Rosa Junior College Police and the sheriff's helicopter, Henry 1.

A jail lockdown and inmate count helped deputies identify the missing inmate and broadcast his description.

Within minutes, a citizen reported seeing a man matching that description running through tall grass in a nearby field.

Officers surrounded the area and the helicopter scanned the area with light. Schwartz tried to hide from the search light but deputies nonetheless, found him wet and bleeding in a creek of Aviation Boulevard, 38 minutes after the escape was reported. A blooded jail-issue shirt was located near him, deputies said.

Schwartz was treated by emergency responders for injuries and taken to the hospital for treatment before being booked on felony escape charges at the higher security Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa.

Authorities said Schwartz was already two days into a four-day sentence for a DUI conviction when he tried to escape.

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5204.