Teen facing felony escape charge
PARSONS — An inmate of the Kenneth “Honey” Rubenstein Juvenile Center near Davis is facing a felony charge after allegedly escaping from the facility.
Garrett Alexander DeBerry, 19, is charged with one felony count of escape. He is incarcerated at Potomac Highlands Regional Jail but no bond is listed as of presstime.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Tucker County Magistrate Court, on July 30, DeBerry and another Rubenstein Center inmate escaped from the facility.
The pair reportedly walked to the nearby Youth Science Center, which is a gated facility along Route 93, and broke in.
Once inside the fence, they broke a driver’s side door lock on a blue Ford truck before entering an unlocked 2012 Chevrolet Express bus, busting the steering column to attempt to steal it and then stealing items from the vehicle, the complaint states.
DeBerry and the other inmate then broke the driver’s side door lock of a 2010 GMC Yukon and attempted to steal the vehicle before removing items from it and escaping to a nearby wooded area, police said.
The two men were apprehended by authorities with the Rubenstein Center and found in possession of multiple pieces of property from the Youth Science Center, according to the complaint.
Cpl. D.W. Burge, of the West Virginia State Police, contacted the director of the Youth Science Center, who told him that there were no prior damage to the vehicles. The facility director also said security video showed DeBerry and the other man entering the facility.
DeBerry was confined at the Rubenstein Center for the crime of burglary, while the other man was confined there for a probation violation, according to the complaint.
As of presstime, no formal charges had been filed against the other man; however, he is in custody at the Southwestern Regional Jail on charges out of Boone County.
If convicted, DeBerry could be sentenced to not more than five years in the state penitentiary.