INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — At 4:15 a.m. Tuesday, convicted escaped murderer Rondell Reed was removed from the Indian River County Jail and taken to the Central Florida Reception Center in Orlando. He was transported without incident.
“We’re certainly elated,” Sheriff Deryl Loar said of Reed’s departure from the jail.
Sheriff Loar said the transportation was well-coordinated and Reed arrived in Orlando at 6:01 a.m.
Department of Corrections will classify him and decide where he will go from that facility.
Reed last week pleaded guilty to eight charges, including murder and escape from the jail. He was sentenced to serve three life sentences in state prison.
“It’s a strong message that criminal justice is swift when it wants to be swift,” Sheriff Loar said of Reed’s plea and quick transport to the Department of Corrections.
Sheriff Loar credited, in part, Reed’s conditions at the jail for the inmate’s decision to change his not guilty pleas to guilty.
Since Reed’s return to the county jail after his escape, he has been held in solitary confinement with the light on around the clock. He was checked on by a guard every 15 minutes and his cell was searched every eight hours.
The sparse cell contained only a stainless steel toilet and sink and a single-piece bed with a pillow-mattress combo.
In late October, Reed and fellow inmate Leviticus Taylor, who had already been convicted of murder, escaped the jail. Taylor was caught the same day, while Reed was loose for five.
Taylor remains at the Indian River County Jail under similar conditions as Reed was held. Taylor is awaiting sentencing on the escape charge.