St. Louis County jail guard charged with helping teen son’s jailbreak
ST LOUIS COUNTY October 26 2022 — A corrections officer at the St. Louis County jail was charged Tuesday with helping her son and another teen after they broke out of juvenile detention in May.
Michelle Royal, 39, of Florissant, faces two felony counts of hindering the prosecution of a felony in connection to the May 29 jailbreak.
Royal’s son and the other teen, both 17, escaped the St. Louis County Juvenile Detention Center May 29, shattering a window at the county’s circuit court building in the process, according to police and court documents.
Charges allege Royal gave her son a cellphone after the escape, appeared to be in the same location with him the day of the jailbreak, and sent money through an app to someone with the escaped teens.
Cell phone records also show that Royal was in regular contact with the teens after the jailbreak, charging documents say.
A man, Aaqil Z. Royal, of Florissant, was charged in July with picking up the teens and giving them a ride from their hideout after the escape. He was recorded on video giving them a ride and supplying them with guns, charging documents allege. He also faces two counts of hindering the prosecution of a felony.
St. Louis County police did not immediately answer questions about the nature of the relationship between Michelle and Aaqil Royal, but both were listed in court documents as residing at the same address in the 700 block of Redwing Drive in Florissant.
Aaqil Royal told police after his arrest that Michelle Royal helped with the escape, court documents say.
The teens were eventually arrested in connection to a “vehicular hijacking” about a week later and were returned to custody by June 7, court documents say.
Police have not identified the teens or said what charges they were being held on before the escape.
Michelle Royal’s bail was set Tuesday at $30,000, cash only.
St. Louis County payroll records confirm that Royal was a corrections officer with a salary of about $49,000 in 2021. She was hired in 2020.
It was not clear if she was still employed by the county on Tuesday.
