A man charged with raping a 9-year-old girl turned himself in Monday afternoon, three days after Prince George’s Department of Corrections personnel mistakenly released him from custody.
On Thursday, Prince George’s County police arrested John H. Palmont Jr., 27, of the 5200 block of Marlboro Pike in Capitol Heights, in connection with an armed sexual assault on Aug. 3.
Authorities say Palmont knocked on a neighbor’s door at about 1:30 p.m., asked to use the phone and then produced a handgun when the girl allowed him into the home. He then raped her, police say.
According to Department of Corrections spokeswoman Vicki Duncan, Palmont injured himself while trying to elude police Thursday and was taken to Prince George’s Hospital Center and committed to DOC custody. He was to be held without bail.
But on Friday evening, Duncan said the DOC was attempting to release another person from the hospital, but instead set Palmont free.
“It was basically a communications failure,” she said.
Duncan said that within 15 minutes of Palmont’s release, DOC officers realized the mistake and contacted shift officials, who notified the county police and sheriff’s departments, who all began looking for Palmont.
“What we are doing now is looking at all our procedures involving releasing people to ensure that this doesn’t happen again,” Duncan said Monday afternoon.
DOC is conducting an internal affairs investigation, and Duncan said it’s too early to say whether anyone will face disciplinary action.
In addition to multiple charges stemming from the Aug. 3 incident, Palmont could be charged with first-degree escape, according to a Prince George’s state’s attorney spokesman.
The executive director of Maryland Crime Victims’ Resource Center Inc., Russell P. Butler, was worried Monday about Palmont’s release.
“They need to have multiple cross checks so that releasing violent predators into our streets does not create more victims,” he said.
