Escaped Inmate Asks Trump, Lil Wayne for Help in Shocking Instagram Video

Antoine Massey, 32, is one of ten fugitives who allegedly broke out of the Orleans Justice Center in New Orleans, Louisiana at around 1 a.m. on May 16 — and one of two who are still at large.

That’s why officials were surprised to see his face in a new Instagram video, which was first published Sunday to Instagram. In it, according to NewsNation and other media outlets, he held up papers which he says confirmed his innocence, saying, “They say that I broke out. I didn’t break out. I was let out.”

The man in the video identified himself as Massey and appeared to have the same facial tattoos, according to The Times-Picayune, who reports that the video was deleted Monday afternoon after media outlets began reporting on it. While authorities have not publicly confirmed whether the man in the video is Massey, “there’s a good chance it’s him,” Deputy US Marshal Brian Fair told CNN.

“The reason why I left the jail is because these people were trying to give me a life sentence in both parishes for something that I did not do,” the man who claimed to be Massey said in the video.

“Who I was in the past is not who I am today, so I’m asking, please, for help,” he says in the video, per Billboard. “YoungBoy [Never Broke Again], Meek Mill … I’m saying people that been through the system that know it’s corrupt. Lil Wayne, Donald Trump, please, I’m asking for help.”

Seemingly anticipating that he’ll be caught, he reportedly added, “When I get back in custody, I’m asking y’all please to come and help me.”

He was imprisoned in March on charges of motor vehicle theft and domestic abuse battery involving strangulation, according to ABC affiliate WBRZ, and is also wanted in St. Tammany Parish on suspicion of kidnapping and rape, according to officials. He had not yet entered a plea.

Law & Crime reports that the man in the video identifying himself as Massey said that he was wrongly accused in the abuse case, and incorrectly charged with vehicular theft.

“I’m letting y’all know I’m not a raper, man. I’m not none of that. None of that. I’m a good person. I am a father that want to be in my children’s life,” he said, per Billboard. “I want to let the younger you know that going down the route of trying to be a street person is not the route.”

“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,” Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Huston said in a statement, received by CBS affiliate WWNY. “Cooperating with law enforcement is in his best interest and may help avoid additional charges.”

The Times-Picayune reports that Massey has been in trouble with the law since 2009, with a criminal history including violent felony convictions for armed robbery, aggravated flight from an officer, and felon in possession of a firearm. He has also been sentenced on theft charges, as well as simple criminal damage to property, and tampering with electronic monitor equipment two different times.

If you count the two times he cut off ankle monitors, leading to the “tampering with electronic monitor equipment” charges, the Times-Picayune says last month’s jailbreak marks his fifth time escaping custody.

Eight of the 10 inmates who purportedly escaped from Orleans Justice Center through a hole carved out behind a toilet have been recaptured. Only Massey and Derrick Groves, 27, remain at large, with authorities conducting a multi-state hunt for both of them. Groves was convicted of a double murder and incarcerated last October.

Sterling Williams, a plumber at the jail, told police after the breakout that Massey had threatened to shank him (the plumber is accused of shutting off the water in the cell to facilitate the escape). In the since-deleted video, the man claiming to be Massey denied this allegation, saying the man “flat-out lied on me.”

After crawling through the makeshift hole behind the toilet, the 10 inmates reportedly made their way through a pipe chase and out through a loading dock before they scaled a fence and fled across the interstate, per reports.

More than two weeks after the escape, with authorities conducting their massive multi-state search effort, a source with law enforcement told the Times-Picayune that one of Massey’s family members was able to ID the background behind him in his video plea.

According to this tipster, the man claiming to be Massey was filming from the kitchen of a relative, who was out of town at the time. After obtaining a search warrant, Louisiana State Police raided the house on Monday, which was less than three miles from the jail, but did not find Massey. They did report, however, finding some of the clothing he was wearing in the video.

“Regarding his innocence, everyone has the opportunity to go to court and to have their day,” said Col. Robert Hodges, superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, per the Times-Picayune. “But you can’t do it when you leave from being incarcerated and then now you’re escaped.”

As for those pleas of innocence in the video, Hodges countered, “There’s no doubt, he’s certainly not innocent for escaping out of jail, OK? Let’s just start with that.”