Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged two Georgia women with allegedly helping three inmates break out of the DeKalb County Jail, an escape that ended with an unsuspecting Lyft driver bound, threatened, and driven nearly 700 miles to Florida before authorities freed her. Melayna Whatley, 30, of DeKalb County, and Gabriela Ortis, 22, of Miami, were indicted September 23 on charges of conspiracy to aid and assist escape, aiding and assisting an escape, and harboring and concealing an escaped prisoner, the U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced. Whatley was arrested September 29. Ortis appeared in federal court this week. Both are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The men they allegedly assisted were Stevenson Charles, 24, Yusuf Minor, 31, and Naod Yohannes, 25. They left the Decatur jail late on December 21, 2025. Correctional officers discovered the breach the next morning during a routine check and estimated the fugitives had roughly a four hour head start. Charles had been sentenced to life in prison in June 2025 in the Southern District of Florida for carjacking, kidnapping, robbery, and brandishing a firearm.
U.S. Marshals transferred him to DeKalb on December 5 to face additional state charges that include murder. Minor is a convicted murderer serving a life sentence for the 2022 killing of Ja’Leesa May Carter; he also faced armed robbery and firearm charges in DeKalb. Yohannes faced charges of arson, simple assault, and unlawful acts of violence in a penal institution.
Sheriff Melody Maddox and Chief Deputy Temetris Atkins said the inmates compromised a portion of a cell in the more than 30 year old facility. Officials declined to describe the precise method, citing the risk that other detainees could exploit the same weakness. Social media video circulated after the escape appeared to show fabric hanging from a window. Atkins stated that infrastructure in a building of that age can be compromised with effort.
The damaged section was repaired, similar areas were reinforced, and the frequency of interior rounds was increased. Maddox described the jail as an aging facility that is deteriorating and noted earlier requests for substantial repairs, including window work. She maintained that the jail remains secure and that the incident was a breach. No public records released so far document a specific ignored inspection finding that predicted this exact failure, and no jail employees have been publicly disciplined in connection with the escape.
Court records and law enforcement statements outline the alleged outside help. Prosecutors say Whatley, identified in earlier warrants as Minor’s girlfriend, made calls and sent texts on his behalf to arrange a getaway driver, then allowed the three men into her Flat Shoals Road residence and let them use her cellphone. A man later identified as Christopher Thompson picked the inmates up and drove them to the house; he was subsequently arrested. Ortis allegedly arranged the Lyft ride that followed.
The driver accepted a request placed under a female name and expected to pick up a woman. Instead the three men entered the vehicle. According to the federal affidavit filed in the Southern District of Florida, one wrapped a rope around her neck from the back seat while she struggled. They tied her wrists, forced her into the rear, and ordered her to keep her head down.
She later told agents they threatened to shoot, rape, and torture her if she resisted. The drive lasted roughly ten hours and covered nearly 700 miles into Broward County. Along the route the men used her credit cards. They booked a short term rental in Miramar.
License plate readers alerted marshals to the vehicle. Charles and Yohannes were taken into custody after a brief pursuit; a handgun was recovered. Minor was arrested at the rental, where officers also found and rescued the driver on December 22. U.S.
Marshal Thomas Brown said she was traumatized. A federal jury in Fort Lauderdale convicted Charles on February 27, 2026, of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, Hobbs Act robbery, and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon. Minor pleaded guilty on March 27 to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, and Hobbs Act robbery. A jury convicted Yohannes of those same three offenses on May 5.
Sentences in the kidnapping cases have not been detailed in the announcements tied to the new charges against the women. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg said every jailbreak puts the public at risk and credited rapid work by multiple agencies for the quick recapture.
He added that the women who allegedly helped the men “must face the consequences for unleashing terror into our community.” The FBI is investigating the case against Whatley and Ortis with help from the Marshals Service and the DeKalb sheriff’s office. Questions remain about how long the structural weakness existed, whether earlier maintenance requests addressed the precise area that failed, and what, if any, additional charges or administrative reviews will follow for those who managed the facility.
The driver, whose name has not been released, has not spoken publicly. The three men who left a county jail and placed her in the back seat of her own car for a night long drive to Florida are already convicted or have pleaded guilty in the kidnapping. The two women now charged with opening the door for that escape await their own day in court.
