ESCAPED INMATE STILL AT LARGE SHERIFF PENS APPEALS FOR FUGITIVE'S SURRENDER.

Byline: Troy Anderson and Martin Kuz Staff Writers

Escaped jail inmate Kevin Pullum eluded Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies again Tuesday, a day after he backed out of deal to turn himself in.

Investigators pursued several leads, including a tip from a bus driver who said someone resembling the 31-year-old Van Nuys man got off at a stop in West Hollywood near Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Deputies searched West Hollywood and elsewhere Tuesday but found no sign of Pullum, who escaped from the Men's Central Jail downtown July 6 just hours after he was convicted by a Van Nuys jury of attempted murder.

``We're checking all leads and working around the clock, and hopefully we'll bring this guy in soon,'' Deputy Steve Jauch said.

Pullum stood up sheriff's investigators Monday night after he negotiated his surrender earlier in the day through Christopher Nance, a weatherman with KNBC-TV (Channel 4). Nance declined comment. No time had been set for Pullum's surrender, according to authorities, and they did not speak directly to him.

In an unusual move late Tuesday night, Sheriff Lee Baca said he had written a dozen letters to Pullum, his sister, other family members and associates, pleading for cooperation.

``I am very concerned about you and I am certain your family is as well,'' Baca wrote to Pullum. ``I would like you to voluntarily surrender to me. Please accept this letter as my word that I will do everything within my power to guarantee your personal safety.''

Sheriff's deputies canvassed the Hawthorne area Monday morning after a woman called 911 claiming Pullum came to her door and asked for money. But a containment zone set up in the neighborhood surrounding the 13100 block of Cordary Avenue yielded nothing.

Pullum, a four-time convicted felon, walked out of the county jail about 8 p.m. July 6 wearing civilian clothes and carrying what appeared to be a legitimate jail employee badge. He faces 25 years to life for shooting a man six times in an apparent drug deal gone bad.

Also on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors asked Baca to prepare a report on how Pullum escaped and what can be done to increase security measures at the jail.

``Currently, the entire metro unit of the sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau is assigned to finding Pullum,'' Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. ``Inmates in the sheriff's custody must be accounted for at all times. Accidental releases and escapes place the public in danger.''

Sheriff's Sgt. Patrick Gomez, who is running against Baca in March's election, criticized Baca for not immediately informing the public of the escape and for lax security at the jail.

``The escapee walked past three unarmed security posts before he reached the front door,'' Gomez said. ``Two security booths are located inside the bridge that joins Men's Central Jail and the Twin Towers Correctional Facility.

``The third is a security position at the desk, inside the front lobby - the lobby door Pullum used to walk out to his freedom. Personnel assigned to both jail facilities have expressed concern about those security posts not being staffed for several years, but those concerns have been ignored.''

Sheriff's Lt. Carl Deeley said the department wouldn't respond to Gomez's criticisms until completing its investigation into the escape.

``We are looking at the overall process,'' Deeley said. ``We want to prevent this from happening again. There is an internal investigation going on to determine who was responsible and if discipline is appropriate, and obviously to prevent any similar type of problem from occurring again.''

Responding to Gomez's criticism that the public was not notified of Pullum's escape until three days after it occurred, Deeley said officials were initially uncertain that Pullum was gone and conducted a massive search, believing he may still have been in the facility.

Later, officials questioned whether notifying the public would damage their chances of finding Pullum.

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