The search is on for a man accused in a drug-related murder in Reading last year, months before the fugitive allegedly fled a correctional facility.
Raymond Martinez III, 22, was among three suspects charged Wednesday in the shooting death of John Villareal, 29, inside an apartment in the 800 block of Green Street on Nov. 7.
While suspects Hector Mattei-Santiago, 18, and Ayannia Martin, 18, are behind bars, Martinez remains at large.
"We know he's a flight-risk already," said Capt. Damond Kloc, Reading Police Department.
On Jan. 2, Martinez escaped the Wernersville Community Corrections Center by allegedly pulling a fire alarm.
"It's really scary," a resident who lives near the facility told 69 News. "There's no real security there."
According to Laura Treaster, deputy director of communications with the state Board of Probation and Parole, Martinez had been an inmate at the facility in South Heidelberg Township since October 2014 for violating parole on burglary charges.
On Nov. 5, two days before the murder, he was "declared delinquent," according to Treaster.
According to the corrections center's resident handbook, inmates are permitted to sign out "to business establishments" for three hours at a time.
"We were getting hit with a lot of crime and it was coming from inmates in that facility," said Chief Lee Schweyer, Sinking Spring Police Department.
Back in May 2011, two inmates were arrested for shoplifting in the borough. A female officer was injured while pursuing one of the suspects, Schweyer said.
An earlier burglary in the borough was also allegedly linked to an inmate.
The incidents prompted Schweyer to write letters to local officials, expressing concern over the facility.
While the problems have since died down, "it's still a major concern," he said.
"A facility like this, the way it's run, should be in, not an urban area, but a densely-populated area," he said. "Some of these inmates have lengthy criminal records."
According to state police Trooper David Beohm, eight inmates have escaped from the facility in the last two years.
Calls to the corrections center were not successful.
Anyone with information regarding Martinez's whereabouts is asked to call Crime Alert Berks County at 877-373-9913.
from 69News:Home http://ift.tt/1JeK2YC
0 commentaires:
Enregistrer un commentaire