Sutter County Inmate Vanishes From Marysville Hospital in Gown, Still at Large

A 44-year-old inmate slipped away from a guarded hospital room in Marysville shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday, and as of this week he still hasn't been found. Jerome Woody was last seen wearing a hospital gown when he walked out of his room at Adventist Health Rideout, leaving behind a security detail that was supposed to be watching him.

Woody escaped from the hospital in Marysville, according to the Sutter County Sheriff's Office, as first reported by CBS Sacramento. He had been in custody on nonviolent charges, per deputies, and jail records show he was arrested for theft with two prior thefts as well as possession of a stolen vehicle. Deputies say he is not believed to be armed or dangerous.

Contracted Guards Watched Over Him

At the time he disappeared, Woody was under the supervision of a private security company that Sutter County contracts to handle nonviolent prisoner watches, rather than sworn deputies. The county's reliance on outside firms for this kind of duty isn't new — a 2021-2022 Sutter County Grand Jury report documented the practice of using private security contracts to manage auxiliary security and guard watches for the jail system.

Deputies describe Woody as homeless with ties to the Yuba-Sutter area, meaning he could plausibly still be moving through familiar territory on either side of the Feather River. He has not been located since walking out of the hospital, according to authorities, and the sheriff's office is asking anyone with information to contact the department.

Why He Ended Up Across the County Line

Woody was booked out of Sutter County, but he was hospitalized in neighboring Yuba County because Adventist Health Rideout functions as the primary acute-care hospital for both counties. Marysville, in Yuba County, and Yuba City, in Sutter County, form a single contiguous metro area split only by the river, which is why cross-border medical transport for detainees is routine in the region rather than unusual.

What Escape Actually Means Under California Law

Even though Woody left a hospital room rather than a jail cell, the law treats it the same way. Under California Penal Code Section 4532, escaping or attempting to escape from lawful custody — including while under guard at an off-site medical facility — is a felony that carries a consecutive jail or state prison sentence on top of whatever else he's already facing, according to legal statutes cited by Grace Legal Group. California's standard jury instructions further hold that an inmate placed under guard in a medical room remains in constructive legal custody, meaning walking away from a contracted guard still meets the legal threshold for criminal escape.

His underlying charges carry their own weight. Vehicle theft under California Vehicle Code Section 10851 is a wobbler that can be charged as a felony carrying up to three years in prison, while Penal Code Section 666 allows prosecutors to elevate petty theft to a felony when a suspect has prior theft convictions and served previous jail or prison time. Those statutes now sit inside a tougher statewide climate: California's Proposition 36, which took effect in December 2024, increased penalties for repeat theft offenders and created new provisions targeting multi-time property crime suspects.

For now, the search continues. Sutter County authorities have not said whether any leads have emerged since Woody was reported missing from the hospital, and the sheriff's office continues to ask the public for tips as it works to track him down.