(SmyrnaVinings.News) — A federal grand jury indicted two women for allegedly helping three inmates, including a federal prisoner serving a life sentence, escape from the DeKalb County Jail in December 2025.
According to federal authorities, Stevenson Charles was sentenced in the Southern District of Florida in June 2025 to life in prison for carjacking, kidnapping, bank robbery and brandishing a firearm. On Dec. 5, 2025, the U.S. Marshals Service transferred him to the DeKalb County Jail in Decatur, Georgia, to face additional state charges.
On Dec. 21, 2025, Charles and fellow inmates Yusuf Minor and Noad Yohannes allegedly worked together to escape from the DeKalb County Jail and fled to Florida with the assistance of Melayna Whatley and Gabriela Ortis.
Whatley allegedly helped coordinate the escape by making phone calls and sending text messages on Minor’s behalf to locate a getaway driver. On the night of the escape, Whatley allegedly allowed Charles, Minor and Yohannes to use her Flat Shoals Road residence to temporarily evade capture and her cellphone to contact additional co-conspirators.
Ortis allegedly arranged transportation for the escapees by hiring a Lyft driver.
After entering the Lyft vehicle, Charles, Minor and Yohannes allegedly put an item around the driver’s neck, dragged her into the back seat, tied her hands together, threatened her and drove her vehicle nearly 700 miles to Broward County, Florida, with her inside.
Law enforcement officers captured the escapees and rescued the Lyft driver Dec. 22, 2025.
On Feb. 27, 2026, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale found Charles guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, Hobbs Act robbery and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon.
On March 27, Minor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping and Hobbs Act robbery. On May 5, a federal jury in Fort Lauderdale found Yohannes guilty of the same three crimes.
On Sept. 23, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted Whatley, 30, of DeKalb County, Georgia, and Ortis, 22, of Miami, Florida, on charges of conspiracy to aid and assist escape, aiding and assisting an escape, and harboring and concealing an escaped prisoner.
Law enforcement officers arrested Whatley on Sept. 29. They also arrested Ortis, who appeared in federal court.
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