Two state Department of Correction officers have been placed on administrative leave in the wake of the escape Friday of a suspect in their care from Beebe Hospital.
In a release today, agency spokeswoman Gail Stalling Minor said the two officers, who were not identified, will be paid during their leave.
The suspect, Calvin B. Harmon, 44, of Lewes, remained at-large today.
Harmon, who was arrested by state police early Friday on burglary charges at a motel outside Lewes, gave correctional officers the slip Friday night while being treated in the hospital emergency room.
At the time of his disappearance, he was reportedly changing into a hospital gown.
When he bolted, however, Harmon was clad only in his underwear and a pair of metal handcuffs on his hands, Minor said today.
He had been taken to the hospital complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath, state police spokesman Sgt. Joshua Bushweller said.
Prison officials said they have not yet learned how the escape occurred.
“The investigation commenced a short time after the escape and we will have to wait for all of the finding to come in and the process to be completed before we have a solid picture of what happened,” state Department of Correction Commissioner Carl Danburg said. “This is a serious matter and we are treating it as such.”
Meanwhile, the First State Fugitive Task Force, Department of Correction Emergency Response Team, state and local police agencies continued to comb the area today looking for Harmon.
Harmon had been arraigned on second-degree burglary, felony theft and second-degree conspiracy charges following his Friday night arrest by state police. Bail was set at $34,000.
Bushweller said that Harmon was suspected in a November robbery at a summer home in Henlopen Acres.
He was arrested about 3 a.m. Friday at the Red Mill Inn, where he was found hiding under a bed.
Anyone with information on Harmon’s whereabouts is asked to call 911, the Sussex Correctional Institution at 856-5280 or state police Troop 4 at 856-5850.
Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com.
