Inmate escapes Lompoc minimum security prison

An inmate has escaped from Lompoc’s minimum security prison and authorities could use your help locating him.

Inmate Hector Medina is a Hispanic man with black hair and brown eyes. He’s five foot seven inches tall and weighs about 185 pounds.

Medina was serving time at the minimum security prison for conspiracy to possess meth, with the intention to distribute and conspiracy to import methamphetamine.

Just two miles away from the prison is a bustling new housing community and some neighbors are now concerned for their safety.

“It’s a peaceful neighborhood but once I found out about the guy that walked off, I’m scared,” says Gabriel Alcantara who lives near the prison.

Others aren’t afraid of the inmate on the loose but rather wish the local police department would do more to notify them of such events happening.

“We have a local police app and when we have amber alerts we get warnings that come across our cell phones. It would be great that when inmates do walk away, we get that same warning so we at least know that’s it’s happening [be]cause i had no idea an inmate had walked away until you knocked on my door and told me,” neighbor Kyle Hyatt tells us.

The FBI, U.S. Marshals Service along with state and local law enforcement have been notified of Medina’s escape. They ask anyone with information to contact them immediately