Mistakenly-released Burnside inmate located
Posted Nov 9, 2010 05:45:47 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A prisoner who had been mistakenly released from the Burnside Jail on Friday has turned himself in.
An official at the Justice Department says Vernon Martell returned to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility today.
Police were looking for the man with more than 20 criminal convictions after he was mistakenly released Friday.
The Department of Justice says Vernon Martell, 41, was released Nov. 5 after making a court appearance on a charge of theft under $5000.
He had been serving a conditional sentence in the community when he had to appear in court again for a breach of conditions after which the judge sentenced him to serve the rest of his sentence, totalling 84 days, behind bars.
The earliest he should have been released was late December.
Martell has a long rap sheet, dating back to 1994, for mostly property-related crimes.
The department is blaming clerical errors for Martell’s release, which wasn’t discovered until Monday afternoon.
Martell’s last known address was on Brule Street in Dartmouth.
