Iranian immigrant to US arrested on suspicion of helping 3 men escape from Orange County jail, passed Sheriff's Dept. background check, wrote books urging children to be multi-cultural and tolerant-LA Times, 1/28/16

1/28/16, "Woman arrested on suspicion of helping trio escape from Orange County jail," LA Times, Richard Winton, James Queally, and Matt Hamilton

"A 44-year-old woman who worked as an English teacher at a Santa Ana jail was arrested Thursday on suspicion of helping three inmates mount a daring escape last week, officials said.

The arrest comes after police and security experts suggested that fugitives Hossein Nayeri, Jonathan Tieu and Bac Duong received outside help when they broke out of the Men's Central Jail on Jan. 22.

The woman, Nooshafarin Ravaghi, a Lake Forest resident, was an English as a Second Language teacher and had been working as a contracted employee at the jail for the last six months, according to Lt. Jeffrey Hallock, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Department....

Ravaghi passed a Sheriff's Department background check and began working with the program in the fall of 2014, the school district said. She began teaching courses at Men's Central Jail six months ago, Hallock said....

Ravaghi was born in Iran and grew up in Tehran, and spent much of her youth traveling around the world with her father, according to her personal website. She moved to California in 1997, after studying French literature in Tehran and Paris.

Ravaghi earned a graduate degree in education from Cal State Fullerton, the website said. She had taught English, Farsi and French in Orange County to both adults and children since moving to the U.S., she said on the Web page.

Ravaghi also worked as a book editor and wrote an eponymous series of “multicultural books” for children, The Noosha Collection.

“The main character of this collection, Noosha, is a little girl who, in the first seven books, discovers new aspects of her Persian heritage,” she wrote on the website. The book series aimed to foster tolerance, her site said
....
She was arrested at approximately 3:30 p.m., Hallock said. Ravaghi was a part-time English as a second language teacher with Rancho Santiago Community College's Inmate Education Program, according to a statement issued by the school district."...

 







Image caption: "Jonathan Tieu, left, Hossein Nayeri and Bac Duong escaped from the Orange County Men’s Central Jail last week. (Orange County's Sheriff's Department)" LA Times


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