A California prisoner who broke out of jail last week is still on the lam despite a multiagency effort to find him.

The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office said Caleb Duerr, 39, escaped from the Quincy jail Friday by breaking through two chain-link fences in the recreation area.

Police said he ran to an O’Reilly Auto Parts store and met a man who didn’t know Mr. Duerr was a fleeing inmate. 

The man gave Mr. Duerr a lift to Highway 70 and County Road A-23 near Beckwourth in Sierra Valley, where he was last seen around 10 a.m. Friday.

Beckwourth is in Northern California and sits 20 miles west of the Nevada state line.

The escape caused schools in Quincy to be briefly placed on lockdown while police searched the area.  

Once he was spotted southeast of Quincy, police said air teams from the California Highway Patrol and K-9 units from neighboring counties scoured the inmate’s last known location. The search proved fruitless.  

The inmate made contact with people over email, the sheriff’s office said, which suggests he has acquired a phone or has access to a computer.

Authorities said Mr. Duerr has family and friends in California, Nevada and Oregon and may have left Plumas County to reunite with them. 

Police said Mr. Duerr is dangerous. He was locked up for several months on charges of felony domestic violence, false imprisonment and criminal threats. 

The general public is advised to immediately call the police upon seeing him. 

Mr. Duerr is a White man who stands 6-foot-1 and weighs 165 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark blue jail uniform when he escaped.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.