Authorities searching for inmate who walked away from Acton rehab facility

ACTON – Authorities are seeking the public’s help to locate Erick Mendiola, a 25-year-old inmate who walked away from a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facility in Acton.

Mendiola was last seen around 7 p.m. Sunday, May 16, at the Acton Conservation Camp #11. Authorities at the camp discovered that he was missing during an inmate count around 9 p.m. A search of camp buildings and grounds was conducted immediately afterward, but he was not found.

Mendiola is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 215 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

CDCR’s Office of Correctional Safety, the California Highway Patrol and the  Los Angeles County Fire and Sheriff’s departments are assisting in the search for Mendiola, who was committed to the CDCR on Oct. 22, 2019 to serve a six-year sentence for evading a peace officer while driving recklessly and second-degree robbery.

Mendiola was scheduled for parole on March 1, 2022, according to CDCR officials.

Since 1977, 99% of all offenders who have left an adult institution, camp or community-based program without permission have been apprehended, according to a CDCR statement.

Anyone with information regarding Mendiola’s whereabouts is asked to call 911 or the Acton Conservation Camp’s commander, Lt. D.E. Foote, at 661-268-0113.

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