KTLA

Why ESL Teacher Nooshafarin Ravaghi Might Have Helped 3 O.C. Inmates Escape

Their friendship blossomed under unusual circumstances, officials say.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said Nooshafarin Ravaghi “provided critical planning tools” for the inmates’ escape. Above, Hallock at a news conference Tuesday. (Credit: Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

The teacher, Nooshafarin Ravaghi, had traveled the world, spoke three languages and wrote a collection of children’s books about a young girl’s discovery of her Persian heritage, according to her website.

The student, Hossein Nayeri, had fled the United States twice to escape prosecution and was awaiting trial in a brutal torture plot that left a man burned, bleeding and near death in the Mojave Desert.

But in recent months, Ravaghi, 44, and Nayeri, 37, became friendly as he attended language courses she taught at Men’s Central Jail in Orange County, authorities said.

Click here to read the full story on LATimes.com.

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