Hagerstown woman given probation for helping inmate escape

December 21, 2000

Hagerstown woman given probation for helping inmate escape

By LAURA ERNDE / Staff Writer

A Hagerstown woman who helped a man escape from Maryland Correctional Training Center was sentenced to four years' probation Thursday.

Tammy Marie Carter, 33, of 211 Buena Vista Ave., had faced up to 10 years in prison for the March 8 escape.

"I'm really sorry for everything that happened," Carter told Washington County Circuit Court Judge Donald E. Beachley.

Carter picked up George Malcolm Brown, 34, who was serving a 10-year sentence for a Baltimore armed robbery, outside the MCTC fence south of Hagerstown, court records show.

She took him to Winchester, Va., but Brown later made his way to Florida, where he spent more than 20 days before being recaptured by police, authorities said.

Brown allegedly ran from police and attempted to carjack two cars, both driven by men in their 80s, authorities said. He was shot in the hip and abdomen before being apprehended.

Carter has been in the Washington County Detention Center since her arrest April 24. She pleaded guilty to the crime in August.

Public Defender John Chillas said Carter suffers from mental health problems which have caused her to make poor decisions in her life.

"She's used by men and she's abused by men," he said.

When she first went to jail, Carter resisted attempts by authorities to help her, but recently she has been cooperating with counselors, he said.

Judge Beachley said he took into consideration Carter's problems and her minor prior record of two nonviolent misdemeanor convictions.

If she doesn't follow the rules of her probation, Carter could serve up to seven years in prison. The first 18 months of her four-year term of probation will be supervised.

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