VERGENNES — The Vermont Department of Corrections announced that a Vergennes man and a Rutland man escaped state custody on Wednesday while on a work crew outside of prison. Within a few hours the men were apprehended.
The office of Corrections Commissioner Andrew Pallito reported at around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday that Christopher LaFlam, 26, of Vergennes and Matthew Hinton, 22, of Rutland walked away from a supervised work crew at the Hillside Cemetery in Norwich at about 10:25 a.m. on Oct. 31. The scene was secured and the Vermont State Police and local police responded to the incident. The community was notified using the Community Alert Notification System.
At 4:20 p.m. police apprehended LaFlam and Hinton, the Department of Corrections announced.
Pallito’s office said a total of seven offenders were assigned to the work crew and are housed at the Southeast Facility/Work Camp in Windsor. A press release described work camp as an “incarcerative piece” of the Department of Corrections’ reparative track. The work programs provide a means to make reparation while serving a sentence. Work is typically done in the facility, on the work camp grounds, and in the community.
According to the Department of Corrections, LaFlam was in jail for two counts of prescription drug fraud, six counts of violating his conditions of release, petit larceny, larceny from a person, and two counts of false pretenses. Hinton was jailed for two counts of burglary, grand larceny, escape and petit larceny.