Authorities are investigating videos that reportedly show one of the two New Orleans jail escapees still at large pleading for help from President Trump, reality star Kim Kardashian and rappers Meek Mill and Lil Wayne, among others.
A man identifying himself as 31-year-old Antoine Massey, one of 10 inmates who authorities say escaped the Orleans Justice Center on May 16, posted multiple clips on social media claiming "the system has failed a lot of people and not just me."
Massey was being held in the New Orleans jail on domestic abuse and car theft charges and has a history of escaping from law enforcement custody. In one of the clips, the man held up what he described as documents that prove his innocence.
“I’m saying people that been through the system that know it’s corrupt. Lil' Wayne, Donald Trump, please, I’m asking for help. You know what I’m saying?” he said in one post. "Please, before you throw me away for something I did not do."
Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson said in a statement that law enforcement is aware of the videos but has not confirmed whether the man in the footage is Massey.
"If the individual depicted in the video is indeed Antoine Massey, we strongly urge him to come forward and turn himself in to the proper authorities," Hutson said. "Cooperating with law enforcement is in his best interest and may help avoid additional charges."
"It is important that justice is served appropriately and that due process is followed," she added.
The man in the videos, who appears to have distinctive face tattoos like Massey, also claimed that he was "let out" and didn't escape from jail.
"They say that I broke out," he said. "I didn’t break out. I was let out."
Multiple people have been arrested in connection with allegedly assisting the inmates with or after their jailbreak. The man thought to be Massey claims in one video that Diamond White, a woman charged with allegedly assisting after the jailbreak and obstructing the investigation, is the same woman he is charged with abusing.
Sterling Williams, a 33-year-old maintenance worker at the jail, was also arrested last month after he admitted to turning off the water in the cell from which the escapees made their jailbreak through a hole behind a toilet fixture.