Work Release

A Washington County Circuit Court judge this week granted work release to a Hagerstown man so he could pay restitution to his victims after pleading guilty to theft. Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell on Monday sentenced Michael Eugene Robinson, 23, of 255 Frederick St., to serve six months in the detention center. But the judge said Robinson would be permitted to work at his job in Frederick County so he could earn money to pay back his victims. McDowell gave Robinson two years to pay $4,804 in restitution.

Inmate walks from work release CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania State Police were looking for a Franklin County Prison inmate who walked away from a work release assignment Tuesday morning. The report said Jason Robert Sheffield, 18, no address available, was reported missing at 7:30 a.m., after failing to return from a work release assignment in Cumberland County. Police said Sheffield has been charged with escape and issued a warrant for his arrest. Sheffield is white, 5-feet 6-inches tall and weighs 140 pounds.

By DAVE McMILLION Staff Writer Maryland Correctional Training Center inmates who have been convicted of second-degree murder or robbery with a deadly weapon could be eligible for the prison's work-release program, a Maryland Division of Corrections official said. To be eligible, the inmates must go through a screening process that takes into consideration the prisoner's work habits, attitude and his ability to complete prison programs such as addiction therapy, said Maryland Division of Corrections spokesman Dave Towers.

By BRENDAN KIRBY Staff Writer BALTIMORE - A small army of prison guards and police officers converged on a prison halfway house Tuesday, rounded up 23 inmates and shackled them in leg irons and handcuffs, officials said. The inmates - and three more who were taken into custody at work sites - were taken to the Patuxent Institution in Jessup, Md., for urinalysis, according to a government official. Leonard A. Sipes Jr., a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, said department Secretary Bishop L. Robinson has ordered a review of the facility's work-release and visitation programs.

A Maryland Correctional Training Center inmate was apprehended early Wednesday, just hours after he walked away from his work release job at Nick's Airport Inn on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to a Maryland State Police press release. When correctional officers arrived at the restaurant about 11:50 p.m. to take inmate Matthew Chestnut back to MCTC south of Hagerstown, they found he was missing, police said. Troopers and Hagerstown Police Department officers found Chestnut Wednesday about 4:10 a.m. at a home in the 500 block of Chestnut Street in Hagerstown, police said.

A prison inmate who allegedly left a work-release assignment without permission three years ago was back behind bars Tuesday, according to the Web site for the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Phillip Scott Barnette, 23, is charged with first-degree escape and second-degree escape, Washington County District Court records indicate. A preliminary hearing for the case was scheduled for Tuesday. According to a charging document, Barnette, who was housed at Maryland Correctional Training Center's pre-release unit, walked away from a work-release program at Fireside Restaurant on Underpass Way in Hagers-town Nov. 7, 2003.

The last defendant in a case in a January 2007 home invasion on Broadfording Road must serve a year in jail, a Washington County Circuit Court judge ordered Thursday. Blake Anthony Davis, 19, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit armed robbery, according to court records. A group of 10 to 15 people went to a home in the 16000 block of Broadfording Road to get back $500 taken during a drug deal gone bad, Assistant State's Attorney Viki Pauler has said during other cases in the home invasion.

New prison studied in Pa. By DON AINES / Staff Writer, Chambersburg CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - With many prisoners sleeping three to a cell, the Franklin County Prison Board Thursday recommended that the Board of County Commissioners hire a consultant to come up with short-term answers to prison overcrowding, possibly including separating the work-release program completely from the Department of Corrections. continued Warden Ray Rosenberry said the inmate population Thursday was 333, nine short of the record one-day record set Sept.

The Washington County Sheriff's Department is looking for an inmate accused of failing to return from work release in early June. A warrant has been issued for Anwar Ari McLeod, 27, charging him with second-degree escape from the Washington County Detention Center, according to a sheriff's department press release. McLeod, who was serving a 10-month sentence for theft less than $500, failed to return to the detention center from his work release assignment at McDonald's at 520 Northern Ave. on June 8, deputies said.

A bill that would require individuals who owe child support and are part of a home detention, work release or a pretrial release program run by the Washington County Sheriff's Office to pay child support is advancing in the Maryland General Assembly, and passed a second reading in the Senate on Wednesday. The bill has been filed in the House of Delegates by the Washington County delegation and in the Senate by Sen. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington. “I was discussing the issue of child support and victims rights with some people over the summer and they pointed out to me that Washington County was one of the few counties that didn't already have the ability to ensure that people who are on work release did have to pay child support.

A Waynesboro, Pa., man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly a year in jail for causing a Feb. 12, 2011, crash that killed two people in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa. Shawn Tyler Lacasse, 27, entered a no-contest plea to a homicide by vehicle charge in the death of 64-year-old Ernest B. Angle of Waynesboro. By entering the plea, Lacasse acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence to gain a conviction at trial. Franklin County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas Judge Shawn Meyers sentenced Lacasse to 11 1/2 months in Franklin County Jail.

A Washington County Circuit Court judge this week granted work release to a Hagerstown man so he could pay restitution to his victims after pleading guilty to theft. Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell on Monday sentenced Michael Eugene Robinson, 23, of 255 Frederick St., to serve six months in the detention center. But the judge said Robinson would be permitted to work at his job in Frederick County so he could earn money to pay back his victims. McDowell gave Robinson two years to pay $4,804 in restitution.

A Maryland Correctional Training Center inmate who walked away from his unsupervised work-release job Monday night in Hagerstown has been found on South Potomac Street, according to Maryland State Police. Christopher K. Randolph, 50, was found about 5 p.m. at 317 S. Potomac St., state police said in a news release.   The state police's Hagerstown Criminal Investigative Section, the Maryland State Police Fugitive Apprehension Unit and Hagerstown Police Department officers found Randolph, who will be returned to the Maryland Division of Correction, the release said.

“Congratulations to the hardworking volunteers who organized the 2011 Relay For Life of Washington County, a great event. It would be perfect if the person who ‘borrowed’ the Pandora bracelet from the raffle tent would return it or make an $85 donation to cover the cost.” — Hagerstown “One person asked me what’s the difference between Democrat and Republican. Well, here it is. In Maryland, the teachers are getting raises — at least, in Washington County.

Fire in locker causes $50 in damage at MCTC The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office was investigating the cause of a Saturday morning fire inside a locker at the Maryland Correctional Training Center on Roxbury Road, south of Hagerstown. The fire was discovered by a correctional officer and an inmate at 11:03 a.m. Saturday inside a metal locker in the state prison’s work-release unit, the fire marshal’s office said in a press release Monday. The fire was controlled within five minutes and caused about $50 worth of damage, the press release said.

A Franklin County Jail inmate who is employed through a work release program is accused of leaving Applegate Insulation on Texas Avenue without authorization on Thursday, Pennsylvania State Police said. Anyone with information about Nathen Lee Skidmore, 21, of McConnellsburg, Pa., can call state police at 717-264-5161. Anonymous tips can be made to Franklin County Crime Solvers at 717-263-3000. Skidmore allegedly left Applegate Insulation at 11 a.m. and was last seen wearing a gray sweatshirt, a puffy blue jacket, jeans and black sneakers, police said.

Jeffrey Lynn Hurd was offered time to get his affairs in order before serving a 90-day sentence for shooting a neighbor's dog, but he told Washington County Circuit Judge W. Kennedy Boone III on Wednesday that he wanted to start serving the sentence immediately. Hurd, 56, of 11845 Camden Road in Williamsport, was convicted in 2008 of two counts each of mutilating an animal and malicious destruction of property for shooting two dogs, one belonging to Arthur and Sonja Pereschuk in 2007, and another belonging to James and Renee Rudolph in 2007, according to court records.

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. -- Police are seeking a Franklin County Jail inmate who failed to return from work release Saturday morning, according to a press release from Warden John Wetzel. The inmate, James Vrdzick, 21, was incarcerated July 2 for a parole violation on an original charge of receiving stolen property, Wetzel said. He has about 16 months left on his parole, Wetzel said. Vrdzick's last known address was in Falling Waters, W.Va. His work-release job was in the Chambersburg area, Wetzel said.

The Washington County Sheriff's Department is looking for an inmate accused of failing to return from work release in early June. A warrant has been issued for Anwar Ari McLeod, 27, charging him with second-degree escape from the Washington County Detention Center, according to a sheriff's department press release. McLeod, who was serving a 10-month sentence for theft less than $500, failed to return to the detention center from his work release assignment at McDonald's at 520 Northern Ave. on June 8, deputies said.