Oklahoma County jail mistakenly releases drug dealer

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A convicted drug dealer and sentenced to 25 years in prison is free after being mistakenly released from the Oklahoma County jail, pending transfer to the state Department of Corrections.

Court records show an arrest warrant was issued Friday for Reimundo Cuevas, 37, who was sentenced April 12 after pleading guilty to charges that include trafficking drugs and conspiracy.

The Oklahoman reports Cuevas was released nine days later.

“We are trying to find out why that happened,” jail spokesperson Jessica Brown told the newspaper. “It appears at this point to be human error.”

“The only way that it came to their attention was that … he was somewhere where someone who used to work in the jail was … and he was bragging about the fact that he was supposed to be serving 25 years,” the judge said. That former employee called authorities, Hammond said.

Operations of the jail were taken over last July by a trust, which has drawn criticism for inmate deaths, escapes, assaults, and a hostage situation in which an inmate was fatally shot by police after beating and stabbing a jailer.