Former New Orleans Teacher Angela Filardo Pleads Not Guilty to Driving Teen Fugitive Across State Lines

On Friday, February 23rd, Angela Filardo, a former schoolteacher at Walter Cohen High School, appeared in court on charges of assisting a minor runaway in fleeing custody.

The case, which has sparked local interest since her arrest in October of last year, hinges around charges that Filardo supported Lynell Reynolds in fleeing to Texas following his escape from a youth group home in Lake Charles. Reynolds, who was later apprehended in San Antonio, was serving time for a previous crime.

Filardo, 31, faces a single felony count of being an accessory to an escape, which she passionately disputed during her arraignment. Following her arrest in October, she quickly paid a $5,000 bond.

During the proceedings on Friday, Filardo’s defense attorneys submitted many applications to suppress significant pieces of evidence, such as statements and identifications. A motions hearing to answer these papers has been scheduled for March 31st, implying a possibly lengthy legal battle ahead.

Filardo’s case took a crucial turn when communication records between her and Reynolds were revealed. According to court filings, detectives discovered 97 text conversations and phone calls between the two, beginning just nine days after Reynolds’ escape on September 13th, 2023.

Furthermore, government enforcement allegedly used GPS data to trace Reynolds’ activities from New Orleans to Slidell to Houston on September 23rd. Coincidentally, investigators followed Filardo’s vehicle along a similar route on the same day, raising questions about her involvement in Reynolds’ escape.

Reynolds’ past conviction in 2019 for attempted second-degree murder serves as the context for this debate. Authorities claim that during an armed robbery, Reynolds shot a man in the back, paralyzing him.