Inmate Escapes From Fire Camp In Beaumont

BEAUMONT, CA – A convicted felon walked away from a minimum security Cal Fire camp just north of Beaumont today, prompting a law enforcement search for the offender.

Julio Cesar Lugo, 27, was last seen in his assigned dormitory at the Oak Glen Conservation Camp about 1 a.m., according to the California Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation.

Agency officials said that when staff conducted an informal head count shortly before 3 a.m., Lugo was nowhere to be found.

"Staff immediately began searching the surrounding areas," according to a CDCR statement. "Notification was immediately made to local law enforcement agencies. Within minutes, agents from the Department of Corrections' Office of Correctional Safety were dispatched to locate and apprehend Lugo."

The convicted felon is about 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair, with a receding hairline. His booking photo shows him sporting a light beard.

Lugo was transferred to the camp in May after he was approved to train and join a Cal Fire inmate hand crew for wildfire season.

He was convicted in Riverside County Superior Court a month earlier of auto theft. According to court records, he was sentenced to two years and was slated for release in March 2019.

Lugo is among more than 100 inmate-firefighters stationed at the camp, located on U.S. Forest Service land in the vicinity of Yucaipa, roughly 10 miles north of Beaumont.

According to court records, he has prior convictions for petty theft, possession of controlled substances and theft of public utilities.

The CDCR noted that since 1977, 99 percent of offenders who escaped from a minimum or maximum security state correctional facility have been apprehended.

Anyone with information about Lugo's whereabouts was asked to call the Oak Glen Conservation Camp watch commander's office at (909) 797-0196.

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