Officials believed mentally ill man freed year earlier
Feb 24, 2007 04:30 AM
CROWN POINT, Ind.?Officials are at a loss to explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a bottle of pop to languish in jail for 17 months.
Edward Perez's lawyer, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and Lake County jail officials all apparently believed he'd been released a year ago.
The mistake wasn't discovered until this month, after a new warden ordered a review of all inmates' files, said Sheriff Roy Dominguez. "This is very unfortunate," Judge Sheila Moss said. "This is a guy who apparently needed services, and he should have been somewhere where he could get that, rather than sitting in our county jail, which is already overcrowded."
The jail released Perez and transferred him to a mental health clinic Feb. 7. Perez had stayed in the jail's medical wing since July 2, 2005, after allegedly stealing a bottle of Pepsi from a Wal-Mart in Schererville, Dominguez said. A police report that referred to the man as "Edward Hammer-Perez" said before stealing the pop, he said he'd just gotten out of jail and wanted to go back. He listed the state psychiatric hospital as his address.
In February 2006, the psychiatrist went to the jail to evaluate Perez only to be told he already had been released, Moss said. The judge said that after the psychiatrist informed her, she deferred to defence attorney Fred Flores, who agreed that his client was not behind bars. Moss, noting that Perez appeared in some records as "Edward Hammer-Perez," speculated he might have been jailed under a different name than appeared on his court file.
Phone messages seeking comment from Flores and the sheriff's department were not returned yesterday. An employee at the clinic where Perez was taken said officials authorized to comment were unavailable until Monday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Somehow being in the jail's medical wing might seems better than the streets.
Feb 24, 2007 04:30 AM
CROWN POINT, Ind.?Officials are at a loss to explain how they allowed a homeless, mentally ill man accused of stealing a bottle of pop to languish in jail for 17 months.
Edward Perez's lawyer, his court-appointed psychiatrist, the judge in his case and Lake County jail officials all apparently believed he'd been released a year ago.
The mistake wasn't discovered until this month, after a new warden ordered a review of all inmates' files, said Sheriff Roy Dominguez. "This is very unfortunate," Judge Sheila Moss said. "This is a guy who apparently needed services, and he should have been somewhere where he could get that, rather than sitting in our county jail, which is already overcrowded."
The jail released Perez and transferred him to a mental health clinic Feb. 7. Perez had stayed in the jail's medical wing since July 2, 2005, after allegedly stealing a bottle of Pepsi from a Wal-Mart in Schererville, Dominguez said. A police report that referred to the man as "Edward Hammer-Perez" said before stealing the pop, he said he'd just gotten out of jail and wanted to go back. He listed the state psychiatric hospital as his address.
In February 2006, the psychiatrist went to the jail to evaluate Perez only to be told he already had been released, Moss said. The judge said that after the psychiatrist informed her, she deferred to defence attorney Fred Flores, who agreed that his client was not behind bars. Moss, noting that Perez appeared in some records as "Edward Hammer-Perez," speculated he might have been jailed under a different name than appeared on his court file.
Phone messages seeking comment from Flores and the sheriff's department were not returned yesterday. An employee at the clinic where Perez was taken said officials authorized to comment were unavailable until Monday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Text
Somehow being in the jail's medical wing might seems better than the streets.
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