City man given three-year sentence for role in escape

From Staff Reports
Cumberland Times-News The Cumberland Times-News Wed Jun 29, 2011, 10:22 PM EDT

OAKLAND — A Cumberland man who assisted Deandre Kelly after he escaped from the Garrett County Jail in January was sentenced to a three-year prison term in Garrett County Circuit Court on Wednesday.

Dionte Pierre Coley, 39, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit escape in the first degree and related charges were dismissed by Judge Jim Sherbin, according to the Garrett County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Criminal investigators with the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshal’s Service determined Coley was a person involved in arranging transportation away from the jail for Kelly on Jan. 23.

Coley had been indicted by the March term of the grand jury.

Kelly, 29, was taken into custody by federal authorities following his arrest May 2 in the Lynchburg, Va., area by U.S. marshals.

All six defendants charged in the escape have reportedly entered not guilty pleas.

Chiquita Annette Richardson, 27, of Alexandria, Va., was sentenced last month to four years in the Maryland Division of Correction.

The other defendants include Eric M. Nibbins, 26, of Alexandria; Amanda S. Lambert, 23, of Cumberland; Jamal Kelly, 25, and Robert Marshall Jr., 27, both of College Park; and Richard D. Hall, 26, of Frederick.

Lambert and Jamal Kelly were released on bond, pending trial. Nibbins is jailed in the Allegany County Detention Center. Marshall and Hall remain jailed in Garrett County awaiting their next court appearance, according to a spokesman for the Garrett County Sheriff’s Office.

The escape investigation was conducted by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Two employees of the detention center were terminated for violations of policy relating to the escape that occurred when Kelly reportedly displayed a handgun.

Deandre Kelly was arrested in Garrett County in a traffic stop in Friendsville on Jan. 22 after he fled from state police. At the time, he used an alias. He was treated at Garrett Memorial Hospital and escaped from jail after police learned his true identity. Kelly was wanted as a federal fugitive in the Washington, D.C., area on drug charges.

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