Three men, including one from Northampton County, escaped Saturday from the Wernersville Community Corrections Center west of Reading in two separate incidents, state police at Reading said.
Adam E. Murphy, 25, of Pen Argyl, left the facility shortly before 7 p.m. after pulling a fire alarm and creating a diversion inside the South Heidelberg Township facility, police said.
Investigators say Murphy, once outside, got into a gold Honda Civic with New York license plates.
Hours earlier, two men escaped under similar circumstances.
Ryan Allen Celani, 28, of Pottsville, and Jeremy Collazo, 22, of Reading, escaped after Celani pulled a fire alarm, police said. All three men remain at-large and have been charged with escape, police said.
All three men were staying at the halfway house under court order.
A similar escape occurred on June 15 when a pair of inmates walked out after someone pulled a fire alarm, state police said.
The state Corrections Department describes its community corrections centers as residential buildings -- sometimes known as halfway houses or work-release centers -- that help offenders on parole or nearing the ends of their sentences transition back to civilian life.
Copyright 2013 - The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
