Inmate captured near Waynesburg

WAYNESBURG – A state prison inmate who escaped custody Tuesday night at WHS-Greene hospital, formerly Southwest Regional Medical Center, was captured about 45 minutes later along Ten Mile Creek near McDonald’s in Morrisville.
Charles E. Ulrich, 29, a Waynesburg man serving time for a parole violation on drug charges, was found hiding along a bank of the creek with his feet in the water. He told Waynesburg police he submerged his feet to quiet an alarm on the tracking device he wore on his ankle.
Submerging the tracking device worked at least in regard to the alarm. “I didn’t hear it at all,” said Waynesburg police Officer Tom Ankrom, who found Ulrich and was assisted in the arrest by borough officers Marcus Simms and Nicholas Rennie. Ulrich’s actions, however, failed to disable the device’s ability to track Ulrich, Ankrom said.
Ulrich, housed on a parole violation at the Progress Community Corrections Center at SCI-Greene, ran away from security staff after they arrived at the hospital at about 11:45 p.m., state Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sue McNaughton said. Ulrich, who had been taken to the hospital for medical treatment, was wearing a GPS tracking device which allowed staff to track his location, McNaughton said. Police said he also was not wearing shoes.
Corrections officers, state police and Waynesburg police used the device to track Ulrich to the area near Ten Mile Creek and were searching the area between the creek and railroad tracks when Ankrom found him. Waynesburg police had been called to assist state police with the search. Ankrom said Ulrich was taken into custody without incident.
Waynesburg police Chief Rob Toth commended the three officers for their work in finding the prisoner. Simms had stayed after his shift to assist in the search, he said.
“They did a really good job,” Toth said. “It was a nice bit of police work.”
Ulrich has several convictions for drug offenses in Greene and surrounding counties, according to online court records. He pleaded guilty in Greene County Court in November 2011 in several cases to charges including delivery of a controlled substance. He was sentenced by Greene County Judge Farley Toothman to 1 to 5 years in prison.
In one of the arrests, on April 12, 2011, police said they searched Ulrich’s Morris Street home after prior incidents involving the selling of heroin, and found heroin, marijuana and stolen property.
Ulrich also was arrested in Pittsburgh in June 2014 on drug possession charges.
According to McNaughton, Ulrich is serving a Greene County sentence for drugs law violations. Ulrich was being housed in the community corrections center, which is for paroles, parole violators and those sentenced to the state intermediate punishment program.
“He’s been paroled a few times and returned each time as a parole violator,” she said.