Santa Cruz County jail inmate escapes

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies are looking for an inmate who escaped from jail Friday morning.

According to the Sheriff’s Office, Karma Mendenhall, 20, ran away from the Santa Cruz Main Jail’s kitchen area, where he was assigned to a crew of inmates who provide food services to jail facilities.

Mendenhall was serving time for misdemeanor offenses at the Rountree Minimum Security Jail in Watsonville.

Mendenhall is described as a white male adult, 6’01, 155 lbs, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a tan colored jail-issued sweater and green jail-issued pants, and running toward the levee area behind the Main Jail at 259 Water Street.

The Sheriff’s Office asks that anyone with information of Mendenhall’s whereabouts contact them at 831-471-1121.