Forget Escapee’s Teeth; Someone Here Needs His Head Examined

Daniel Ortiz, a 15-year-old gang member accused of murder, apparently wanted only two things for Christmas: new braces (or at least an adjustment of the ones he already had) and a “Get Out of Jail Free” card.

Santa doesn’t always make visits to Central Juvenile Hall, but that wasn’t a problem in this case. The Los Angeles County Probation Department played St. Nick on Monday and made young Daniel’s Christmas merry and bright.

Two transportation deputies gave Ortiz -- whose street name is Capone -- a ride to his orthodontist’s office in Huntington Park. While in shackles, Ortiz gave them the slip and disappeared in a car driven by a man with a gun, becoming the sixth lad to bust out of Probation Department custody this year.

Friday morning quarterbacking is easy, sure, but let’s not let that stop us. As L.A. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich emphasized Thursday, a pattern has developed, creating a public safety risk.

In March, a 17-year-old convicted of three counts of attempted murder broke out of lockup by smashing a window with a computer part.

In April, two youths clocked a driver and commandeered a Probation Department van.

In July, a 17-year-old convicted of an execution-style murder produced a .45-caliber gun while in custody, locked up three guards and fled with a convicted murderer and a convicted carjacker.

A week later, a suspected armed robber escaped while on a medical visit.

And now we have Daniel “Capone” Ortiz on the lam.

I can’t tell you what went wrong in all the other escapes, but I think I can offer a few pointers to the Probation Department based on the Ortiz case.

The first red flag should have been the nickname. If Daniel “Lefty” Ortiz says he wants to go see his dentist, that’s one thing. But here, the name Capone might be a clue.

Let’s keep in mind that Ortiz was not in custody for joyriding or boosting stereo equipment. He was accused of killing a rival gang member this summer at Compton Avenue and 49th Street.

An alert probation officer would have sniffed out a flight risk.

In fact, you could have stopped any dope on the street, laid out the situation, and he would have seen it coming.

They have phones in Juvenile Hall, you know. So with no trouble at all, Ortiz could have made a call to someone on the outside and said, “You’re not going to believe it, but these chumps are taking me to the orthodontist tomorrow. The appointment is at 11. Be there.”

Before I get ahead of myself, allow me one more observation.

I’m sure that Dr. Beauchamp’s Western Dental on Gage Avenue in Huntington Park does nice work, even though a receptionist hung up on me when I called to ask about Daniel Ortiz’s dental history.

But Ortiz didn’t have an abscessed tooth, as Supervisor Antonovich pointed out Thursday. He didn’t need a root canal either, the supervisor said with proper indignation. And even if he did, they have dentists in Juvenile Hall.

Was it really necessary to take this guy to his personal orthodontist for the sake of a winning smile? Like a lot of the questions here, this one answers itself.

So there they are. Ortiz is in the car, the two transportation deputies are unarmed per office regulations, and they’re on their way to Dr. Beauchamp’s. I don’t know if Ortiz was laughing behind their backs, but I would have been.

They park, they all go inside, and who would’ve thunk it?

“Several patients walked in the office, creating enough of a distraction that the minor bolted for the door,” a Probation Department spokesman said.

My understanding is that Ortiz was still shackled at the ankles, and I’m not quite sure how anyone can bolt anywhere with his legs bound. Nor am I sure why, given the circumstances, an armed sheriff’s deputy didn’t accompany the probation officers.

But we’ve already established that we’re not talking about the swiftest folks in county government.

Slow and Slower, the glue horses who were guarding Ortiz, had to back off when they saw the driver flash a gun.

And just like that, Ortiz disappeared down the street for some last-minute Christmas shopping.

I don’t know if Chief Probation Officer Richard Shumsky is cut out for this line of work, given the year he’s had, but I’ll give him this much:

When I called to ask what on Earth is going on under his watch, he didn’t make any excuses. It’s not a manpower problem or a budgetary problem, he said. In the Ortiz case, he admitted that someone, or several people, screwed up, and he’s trying to find out who.

There was a court order authorizing outside medical visits for Ortiz, Shumsky said. He wasn’t sure why, or whether it specified orthodontics as one of the medical services. But if so, he said, the order should have been challenged by his office.

“I don’t think there was any good reason for this youngster to see an orthodontist,” he said with resignation and maybe some embarrassment. If Ortiz had a dental emergency that couldn’t be handled at Juvenile Hall, Shumsky added, he could have been taken to County-USC, where there’s security for inmates.

As of the day after Christmas, Capone was still on the loose. If you happen to see someone with a mouthful of tinsel, laughing like a con, call the police.

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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected].