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Employee on leave after murder suspect released

By WTOP Staff

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Corrections has placed an employee on administrative leave after a lapse in protocol led to the accidental release of a murder suspect from a Baltimore jail.

Thirty-year-old Rodriquez Purnell was erroneously released Friday from the Maryland Reception, Diagnostic and Classification Center, where he was awaiting trial in the 2013 shooting death of 27-year-old Terrance Rheubottom. Purnell also had been convicted of assaulting a corrections worker.

Purnell remained at large Wednesday afternoon.

The department said it received a call Sunday night about Purnell and contacted police.

The department said Wednesday one employee has been suspended with pay. The department said its investigation is focused on the release process and that a lapse in procedures led to Purnell’s discharge, but would not provide further details.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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