SPREADING THE WORD NEIGHBOR SOUNDS JAILBREAK ALARM.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

CASTAIC -- The whine of emergency sirens in neighborhoods around the Pitchess jail complex alerts residents to lock their doors. But before they turn on the TV, many call a neighbor who always has the lowdown.

Sandy Legler e-mailed them before the alarm system was tested Nov. 2, and was on top of the jailbreak Thursday.

``As soon as I heard the alarms the first person I called was Sandy,'' said friend and neighbor Claudia Kirk, who has two young daughters. ``She told me the usual protocol at school is to go into the lockdown mode.''

Deputies from five cities swarmed into Santa Clarita after an inmate escaped from the Pitchess Detention Center just before 7 a.m. Thursday. Felix Melvin Stiglbauer remained on the lam until he was found nearby Friday morning.

Kirk gently prepared kindergartner Lauren, 5, for the changes that awaited her at Live Oak Elementary School and was not surprised to find the Castaic Regional Sports Complex in lockdown when she dropped off Meghan, 3, at a preschool program.

As soon as the alarm sounds, Legler phones a Sheriff's Department line that provides escapee information. She fields phone calls and shoots e-mails to about 25 friends.

``I want to know how many people got out, what they're in for and what they look like,'' Legler said. She gets a physical description but no crime details.

The 10-year Castaic resident began making the calls a couple of years ago when her young daughters became more mobile, but her former career as a facility manager and as director of administration at Rand Corp. foreshadowed her protective ways.

``I was in contact with security and service departments,'' she said. ``Any time anything happened at work I was responsible for informing people.''

Legler also logs on to a Web site that details sex offenders' whereabouts and forwards the findings to friends. Her home is across from a park adjacent to the school, and she questions how a man registered on the site can live nearby. A couple of years ago she witnessed a violent crime, and since then has been ``vigilant about the activities that impact kids.''

Legler dispatches notices to her hometown of Big Bear, where family still resides, and to San Diego, where her husband's family lives.

``She was always trying to help people, always going out of her way to help people,'' said her mom, Linda Scott. ``She has a special gift. I always know if I'm concerned about anything I can always count on her.''

It is no surprise the former psychology major is hooked on ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.'' Her husband, a best boy for Warner Bros., does lighting for ``Without a Trace,'' a TV show that follows the trajectory of missing person's cases.

Legler's experience comforting her daughter Hannah, now 6, who cried hysterically during a lockdown last year, helped her prepare Kirk. Legler praised ConnectEd, the Castaic Union School District's automatic phone notification system that activates during emergencies, and was delighted when the system advised her of the inmate's apprehension Friday.

For years, Pitchess has had a phone tree in which deputies call the schools and district office, municipal agencies and community leaders and they in turn call others.

``When an escape occurs we have a message center,'' said Lt. Kristie Jonsen. She said it gives instructions about reporting suspicious people or circumstances, and about using 911 to contact the local sheriff's station.

Live Oak neighbor Patti Kratzer relies on Legler's updates, and counts Legler among her closest friends.

``She called me (Friday) and we were talking about other stuff ... and she said `Oh, by the way, he was caught,''' Kratzer said. ``My husband calls her Mrs. Kravitz because she knows all of the neighborhood goings-on.''

Kratzer said he means it jokingly, as Gladys Kravitz was a kooky busybody on the popular 1960s and '70s show ``Bewitched'' -- who nevertheless was not fooled by Samantha Stephens' denials about her witchcraft.

Legler said it behooves her to make the calls, because ``living this close to the prison and having kids you have to pay attention.''

Such are the realities of living in a nice home, in a nice neighborhood near a prison.

Information on jail escapees is available at 295-3515, -3516 and -3517.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Sandy Legler has taken it upon herself to help notify residents in her Castaic neighborhood when a prisoner escapes from the Pitchess jail facility. Here, she walks with her daughters, Hannah, 6, and Sophie, 4.

(2) Sandy Legler says ``living this close to the prison and having kids you have to pay attention.''

David Crane/Staff Photographer