The Red Eye From County Jail?

It’s a tough job to keep track of all the folks incarcerated and awaiting trial in a jurisdiction as big as Los Angeles County. We are told that the only prisoners who receive regular scrutiny from guards are those on suicide watch. However, some jailhouse situations cry out for a little more watchfulness than usual. Such was the case involving a murder suspect who was accidentally released from jail last Friday.

Three days passed before anyone discovered she was missing. Toss in the fact that Anait Zakarian worked in a travel agency specializing in charter trips to her native Armenia and it all added up to three words: Big Flight Risk.

As of Thursday, Zakarian was still at large. She is reported to have taken a brief vacation in Las Vegas before vanishing. Had anyone asked if she had a passport?

County Sheriff Sherman Block is almost always a welcome anomaly among public officials in instances such as this: He generally fesses up, and that usually saves everyone a lot of time in determining what needs to be done.

“It was a case of human error,” Block said Wednesday. He explained that two files were inadvertently mixed up by a clerk. The sheriff added that an additional safeguard is needed. No kidding. When a murder suspect’s occupation is a big part of why she is being kept in jail prior to trial, that’s something that even the lowest-ranking clerk should be made aware of.