Tighter security planned at NLV jail

Wednesday, Aug. 18, 1999 | 10:17 a.m.

A North Las Vegas jail official said security-tightening measures are under way in the wake of a recent high-profile jail break.

Sgt. Dan Lake said additional equipment, including hand-held metal detectors and walk-through metal detectors, will be employed and the privacy partitions on the visitors booths will be reduced in size.

The changes come in the wake of the daring escape last Wednesday by Timothy Lee Blackburn, who is charged in the robbery of an automated teller machine repository. He allegedly had the help of his wife, Puthea Lee, authorities say. Both remained at large this morning.

"We can learn from it," Lake said. Inmates, he said, "have 24/7 (24 hours, seven days a week) to think about how to get out. We have to react to that."

Jail officials had not used walk-through detectors in the past because inmates and their visitors were prevented from having physical contact by the security glass between them.

Also, the floors in the jail lobby were not compatible to the stability of such equipment, Lake said. That was changed during recent construction that "solidified the flooring," he said.

It is alleged that Blackburn and Lee, possibly over a period of several visits, removed the screws holding the glass in place to make the escape possible. They were shielded from security cameras by privacy partitions between the booths.

"They picked the most convenient window to manipulate the screws and were shielded by the partitions that are there to provide a minimal amount of privacy," Lake said. "Those partitions also will be modified to provide an extremely minimal amount of privacy."

Although the internal investigation is not complete, Lake said, it "does not appear there was complicity" on behalf of guards. However, he said, it is possible disciplinary action could be taken against officers if it is determined they were derelict in their duties.

After Blackburn got out through the window about 11:30 p.m., the pair made their way through the building and out to the parking lot, exchanging gunfire with officers, police said. They escaped in a waiting pickup that later was recovered.

Blackburn was at the jail awaiting trial on charges of robbing more than $1 million from a Bank of America ATM repository last December. Authorities consider him one of the ring leaders of a group that allegedly kidnapped a janitorial crew and used their keys to break into an ATM bank vault repository.

The FBI on Monday obtained warrants for the arrests of Tim Blackburn and Lee, charging them with Blackburn's jail break.

A day earlier, Terry Blackburn, Tim's brother, and Seila Lin, Lee's sister, were arrested. Terry was accused of aiding and abetting in the escape. Lin was arrested on a charge of making false statements to the FBI.

On Monday they were ordered released on their own recognizance by U.S. Magistrate Roger Hunt.

Tim Blackburn, 26, is described as 6 feet 3 inches tall, muscular and weighing 205 pounds. He is classified as an Asian and has brown hair and brown eyes. He has 2- and 4-year-old daughters and his mother, Sun Tok Blackburn, lives in Las Vegas. He last worked as a security guard at The Beach nightclub, the FBI said.