Fugitive Iranian Suspect from Orange County Jail Arrested

Two days after reports emerged about the arrest of an Iranian-American woman who allegedly assisted in the escape of 'three dangerous suspects' from the Orange County state prison, police announced that all three suspects, including Hassan Neri, an Iranian-American fugitive, have been apprehended. The Orange County Sheriff's Department in California announced on Saturday afternoon local time that 37-year-old Iranian-American Hussein Neri and 20-year-old Jonathan Tiu, who escaped from the state prison last week and were on the run, were arrested by San Francisco police. Earlier, it was reported that Bak Dong, the third suspect on the run, surrendered himself in Santa Ana. The Orange County Sheriff's Department is expected to reveal more details regarding these arrests in a press conference. The news of the arrest of all three fugitives comes after police reported on Thursday the arrest of an Iranian-American woman who is said to have been in contact with Hussein Neri and facilitated their escape. Nourafarin Ravaghi, who teaches English to non-English speaking inmates at the Orange County jail, was arrested on Thursday and it has been reported that this 44-year-old Iranian-American woman provided Hussein Neri with a printed copy of an aerial map of the area obtained from Google Earth. Ms. Ravaghi has been charged with conspiracy and is set to appear in court on Monday, although it is unclear whether she has legal representation for her court appearance, according to the Associated Press. A spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Department also stated that there were handwritten 'intimate and personal' letters exchanged between Ms. Ravaghi and Hussein Neri, but it cannot be confirmed whether the two were in a romantic relationship. Bak Dong, who was arrested on Friday, is 43 years old and of Vietnamese descent, and has been in custody since last month on charges of murder and armed assault. He went to a car dealership in Santa Ana on Friday and asked a friend who was working there to call the police, thus surrendering to law enforcement. Tiu, the other fugitive who was arrested, is 20 years old and is accused of committing murder during a gang fight in 2011, while Hussein Neri, the last fugitive arrested, is charged with kidnapping, torture, violent assault, and burglary, and has been in custody at the Orange County state prison since September of last year. Neri, who had been wanted since 2013, fled to Iran at that time but was arrested and extradited to the U.S. in October 2014 while attempting to travel from Prague to Spain. The Orange County state prison, built in 1968, houses 900 inmates, and the escape of Hussein Neri and the two other suspects last week marks the first escape from this prison in three decades.