Former jail nurse sentenced in escape

Jeff Donaldson

Friday, May 6, 2005 | 11 a.m.

A former jail nurse who tried to help a motorcycle gang member escape from jail last year was sentenced to 14 months in a halfway house today.

Christina Lavonda Mathews, 28, pleaded guilty in February to one charge of instigating or assisting an escape of a convicted gang member.

In her plea, Mathews admitted to smuggling into the Clark County Detention Center cigarettes and marijuana as well as a pair of pliers and bolt-cutters for Rolling 60s gang member Leland Devine Banks.

Mathews already had spent six months in a community treatment center, the Clark Center, where she spends two-thirds of her day under supervision and one-third working.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro said that Mathews' success in school and her lack of a criminal record warranted leniency though he called the crime "serious." He recommended Mathews continue staying at the center for eight more months and sentenced her to five years supervised probation.

"I don't know what this fella said to get inside your head, but to allow yourself to be manipulated ... that's something you really need to focus on," Pro told Mathews.

Leland Banks was being held at the jail on Stewart Avenue and Mojave Road when Mathews attempted to help him escape. The 29-year-old Banks was sentenced to more than 37 years in prison.

An FBI investigation revealed that Mathews, who began working at the jail as a nurse in March 2004, received more than 1,000 recorded phone calls from Banks and helped plan his escape attempt between March and November. Banks was found guilty in October of federal racketeering crimes related to a shooting at a convenience store in January 2003. He was sentenced to 450 months in prison in January.

He was convicted of attempted murder and assault, two violent crimes connected to racketeering and three violations of firearms laws as a result of a shooting of a rival gang member sniper-style.