Ex-Sanders Consultant Arrested After Allegedly Planting Weapons In Jail For ‘Evil’ Escape Plot

A former consultant for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign was arrested after he allegedly planted loaded weapons and ammunition inside a Tennessee corrections facility that was under construction in an attempt to carry out a future jailbreak, authorities said.

Criminal justice reform advocate Alex Friedmann, who was not an inmate but allegedly was plotting to help prisoners escape when the facility opened, was arrested Tuesday on one count of felony vandalism, but Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said during a press conference Wednesday that the allegations go far beyond that.

The opening of the Nashville detention center, which was slated for April, was indefinitely postponed after his arrest, according to the Tennessean.

“Throughout the last several weeks it was discovered that Mr. Friedmann, over many months, had developed and implemented an extremely deliberate – and in my opinion evil – plan,” Hall said during the press conference, which was broadcast by local NBC affiliate WSMV. “Understand, this plan went far beyond vandalism. Ultimately it included planting various tools, weapons, security equipment throughout this facility. All designed to assist in a massive escape plan.”

Hall went on to describe how the weapons included loaded guns and ammunition.

Florida landlord evicted squatters one year ago, her story helped pass a bill to protect homeowners

Fox News Politics: Trump’s ‘beautiful’ baby blues

Tenn. Passes ‘Baby Olivia Act’ Requiring Public Schools to Show Students Unborn Babies’ Development

‘The Lion King’ Prequel Director Responds to Fans Calling Disney a ‘Soulless Machine’

Alabama lawmakers advance bill letting inmates speak at parole hearings

Sen. Tom Cotton takes aim at student loan forgiveness for anti-Israel agitators

2024 Showdown: Biden’s bump has flatlined in the polls

Shocking Number of Anti-Israel Protesters at Columbia Weren’t Students: Law Enforcement

Fox News Anchor Goes Missing from the Air Due to 16-Year-Old Son’s Medical Emergency

Major US law firm sues Students for Justice in Palestine for alleged support of Hamas ‘terrorist activities’

Video of Tree Spewing Jet of Water Has 6 Million Views and Counting, But Can You Spot the Detail Proving It’s a Fake?

President Biden condemns violent anti-Israel protests, won’t call up National Guard

Whistleblower at Company That Supplies Boeing Fuselages Dies at Age 45

Trump slams ‘radical left lunatics’ creating chaos on college campuses nationwide

Mexican Authorities Target Arizona Rancher Accused of Shooting Illegal Immigrant: Attorney

“What disturbed me most is not that this was about an escape,” he said. “It was also about loss of life.”

Friedmann worked with the 2016 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., as one of several consultants who educated him on criminal justice issues. It resulted in Sanders introducing a bill aimed at eliminating private prisons. Friedmann told The Atlantic in 2015 that the bill did not go far enough to achieve that goal.

“It appears to be more for political purposes than to actually address the many problems in our criminal justice system,” he told the publication.

Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

Sheriff Hall said the arrest came after an investigation stemming from a previous case involving Friedmann, who was arrested in January on charges including attempted burglary for allegedly posing as a construction worker to enter a different detention center multiple times, stealing keys, and diagraming the layout of the center, which was still being built and not in use at the time.

A press release from the sheriff’s office said that corrections officials noticed on Dec. 30 that two keys were missing. They viewed surveillance video and saw someone dressed as a construction worker who matched Friedmann’s description taking a key ring, then coming back and replacing it with two keys missing.