West End: Forks escapee may have headed south

FORKS — Authorities in Grays Harbor and Jefferson counties have joined the search for a 20-year-old man who escaped from Forks City Jail on Monday afternoon.

Police believe Orlando Gonzalez-Malagon was heading toward Aberdeen late Monday night after he slipped through a malfunctioning security door at the jail and crawled under a security fence at about 3 p.m., Forks Police Chief Mike Powell said Tuesday.

Gonzalez-Malagon had been in jail for about 30 days and was scheduled to begin trial today in Clallam County Superior Court for a fourth-degree domestic violence assault charge.

He escaped from the jail’s recreation area through a security door that did not properly latch, Powell said.

“He was standing by the door, and all of a sudden, then he wasn’t,” Powell said.

The door has since been repaired, he said.

The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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