A Hampstead man wanted for failing to return to the county detention center from a treatment program is accused of barricading himself for about four hours yesterday inside a former girlfriend's home - the scene of the two previous incidents that landed him in jail.
Douglas Raymond Salvatore, 38, of the 1200 block of N. Main St. was due back at Carroll County Detention Center by the evening of May 24 after a series of appointments as part of a court-ordered outpatient treatment program at Granite House Inc. in Westminster, police and jail officials said.
An arrest warrant was issued on a charge of first-degree escape, and police asked neighbors to keep an eye out for him, said Lt. Terry L. Katz, the Westminster barracks commander.
The standoff began about 8 a.m., after a neighbor reported a man on the front porch of a home in the 2600 block of Hoffman Mill Road, between Hampstead and Westminster, Katz said. The man refused to respond to negotiators, and after determining that he was alone and unarmed, police tried to use tear gas about 11:30 a.m., then entered the home and arrested him in a rear bedroom about 12:40 p.m.
No one was injured, Katz said. The road around the home was closed during negotiations, which included the state police Hostage Recovery Team, its Special Tactical Assault Team Element and a helicopter, sheriff's deputies, Hampstead police officers, state and county road personnel, and the Westminster and Hampstead volunteer fire departments.
Salvatore had been at the Carroll County Detention Center in Westminster since Aug. 20, after the second incident at the house.
In that case, he was found asleep inside the home in violation of a protective order. Salvatore fled into nearby woods, where he was bitten several times by a sheriff's police dog.
11-hour standoff
The month before, Salvatore fired a .44-caliber black-powder revolver and a long gun, set a fire inside the home and threatened suicide during an 11-hour barricade. It began when the former girlfriend fled her home, saying he had threatened to strangle her with a piece of clothesline while she was in the bathtub. He was arrested and later released.
Salvatore was sentenced in both cases in April.
Carroll Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. sentenced Salvatore to two years in jail after he was convicted of second-degree assault, resisting arrest and violating a protective order. He also ordered that Salvatore complete the mental health programs at Granite House and abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs.
Lt. Veronica Green, treatment correctional liaison for the jail, made up a schedule for Salvatore to walk alone from the facility on North Court Street to the program or his therapist's offices on East Green Street and on East Main Street, with about half an hour allowed for the walk.
Missing since May 24
Salvatore did not return to the jail as scheduled about 8:30 p.m. May 24, after attending individual and group therapy programs that began at 11:15 a.m., she said. The lieutenant contacted the former girlfriend to warn her and had officers check the home. Salvatore was not on work release, although work release had been recommended, Green said, "but we were trying to get [his] mental health issues under control."