Someone should have been watching Nolan L. Evans.
On a night in April 2006 when court records show he was supposed to have been secured inside a halfway house, authorities charge that the convicted felon was able to shoot a man in Northwest Baltimore. Months later, the man died from his injuries.
The little-publicized homicide case, scheduled for trial this week, could be another blow to Volunteers of America's Comprehensive Sanction Center.
The Sun reported last month that during a spot-check in April 2007, 10 inmates were discovered missing from the halfway house and that two probationary employees suspected of accepting bribes from those inmates were fired as a result.
Six years earlier, two employees at the facility were convicted of accepting bribes from inmates so they could freely wander the city's streets at night.
The Evans trial comes as Volunteers of America's contract to operate the halfway house is expiring; federal officials are still undecided about whether to renew the contract.
Federal judges in Baltimore say that escapes from the facility in the 4600 block of E. Monument St. have troubled them. Several said the state needs a more reliably secure halfway house for inmates transitioning out of federal prison.
"The truth is we have no other options, really, than to send people there," Judge J. Frederick Motz, co-chairman of the federal court's probation committee, said of the Volunteers of America halfway house.
The federal Bureau of Prisons pays Volunteers of America's Comprehensive Sanction Center to house up to 90 inmates a day. A $3.6 million, five-year agreement will expire at the end of next month, but federal officials declined to say whether they plan to renew it with a 10-year contract as the nonprofit has requested. They also declined to comment on the Evans case.
After prison
Evans - son of death row inmate Vernon Lee Evans Jr. - arrived at the halfway house on March 28, 2006, after serving an 86-month prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Selected log records from Volunteers of America show that Evans was at the facility at least part of the time on April 25 and 26, 2006. But it was unclear from those records entered into the court file whether Evans was inside the halfway house at the time of shooting.
Evans' defense attorney, Nicole Love-Kelly, said her client maintains that he was at the halfway house. "Any other identification of my client as the shooter would have to be a misidentification," she said. The trial is set to start Wednesday in Baltimore Circuit Court.
Just after 1 a.m. on April 26, police from the city's Northwest District were sent to the 3900 block of W. Forest Park Ave. for a report of a shooting. When they arrived they found a man named Larry Parks receiving medical treatment. He was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. The shooting left Parks paralyzed from the neck down.
The police appeared to catch a break on June 7 when a witness looked through a photo array. She identified Evans, according to police, saying that her relative saw Evans, also known as "Chief," shoot Parks, also known as "Caveman." Homicide detectives paid Parks a call at Kernan Hospital on June 15, 2006, asking questions about the shooting.
"I confronted him with all of the intelligence gained through the course of the investigation," lead detective Anthony Fata wrote.
But Parks would not cooperate. "If I knew who shot me, I would not tell you," Parks said, according to Fata's progress report. "This is the way the street works."
On Nov. 4, 2006, Parks, 37, of the 3900 block of Bonner Road, was admitted to St. Agnes Hospital for low blood pressure, pneumonia and sepsis. The 6-foot, 182-pound man died there the next day, just after midnight.
The medical examiner's office ruled his death a homicide from complications of the gunshot wound to his back. Court records do not provide a motive for the shooting.
For months, the case remained unsolved until, police say, a witness came forward. Evans was charged in May 2007.
Security lapses
Law enforcement officials in Baltimore said they have been frustrated with security gaps at the halfway house.
Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said the public should not think that halfway houses will protect the community from dangerous criminals. Rosenstein, the state's top federal prosecutor, said earlier that his office does not have concerns about security at Volunteers of America and that his prosecutors have not voiced opposition when judges send pretrial detainees there.
William Henry, the federal official in charge of probation services, did not return a call for comment. In an earlier conversation about Volunteers of America, Henry declined to talk about individual cases at the halfway house or any past problems with Volunteers of America.
But federal judges and defense attorneys confirm that Henry was so concerned about Volunteers of America that his pretrial officers declined to recommend the Baltimore facility for months after the April 2007 escapes were discovered.
Founded in 1896, the nonprofit Volunteers of America Chesapeake employs more than 500 people to operate 23 human services programs, including the Baltimore halfway house. Chesapeake CEO Cecilia Griffin Golden declined to comment about specific cases, including Evans'. "It's a legal issue and I can't discuss it," she said.
Court records show that escapes from the facility have been a long-standing problem.
Johnny Lashawn Gamble, a 24-year-old shift supervisor, was accused of taking money from inmates and letting them leave temporarily between November 1998 and April 1999. Prosecutors also charged Gamble with accepting payoffs so male and female inmates in February 1999 could spend time in private together, in violation of halfway house policy.
The charging documents spelled out another scheme in which Gamble accepted money from inmates for altering records connected to their required urine samples and the samples themselves. Some inmates at the halfway house were required to provide periodic urine samples to detect drugs or alcohol in their bodies - and could face a return to prison if those tests turned up positive.
Another supervisor, David Tariq Parker, 30, of Baltimore, was also accused of accepting money from an inmate who left temporarily and without permission.
Both men pleaded guilty in spring 2000. Gamble received two years' probation with six months of home detention, and Parker received three years' probation.
Court records do not identify the inmates who escaped or whether they committed new crimes while they were out illegally.
Residents at the motel-like facility are generally allowed to work and attend appointments during the day but are supposed to stay in at night. Internal records show that supervisors appear to do room checks throughout the night, logging inmates in and out, but the halfway house residents are never locked down.
Evidently Evans didn't follow those rules.
On April 28, 2006 - two days after Parks was shot - Victor Caldarola, the program director at the Volunteers of America Comprehensive Sanction Center (CSC) warned Evans in writing that he had failed to find a job and risked returning to prison.
Evans was discovered missing from his room, Number 6, at 2 a.m. on May 11. A staff member recommended kicking him out of the halfway house.
But internal records show he was still there on May 31 when Caldarola wrote him up again for failing to obey a staff member and to obey "lights out" at 12 midnight earlier that week.
"Your conduct toward staff on duty on the evening of 5/24/06 in particular insolence, use of profanity and refusing to obey an order of a staff member will not be tolerated," Caldarola wrote.
The program director ordered that Evans lose two weeks of passes and visits from outsiders. On June 12, 2006, federal probation official Randal White wrote, "as a CSC resident, inmate Evans threatened a staff member at the CSC. Evans has committed several other infractions while housed at the CSC prior to this one."
Poor adjustment
He was taken back into federal custody that day. But less than three months later, records indicate, he was back on the street.
"The defendant's adjustment in the community to date has been unsatisfactory," an unidentified probation officer wrote. "Mr. Evans was shot in both legs while standing in the 3900 block of Norfolk Avenue in Baltimore on 8/20/06."
He recovered from the August shooting, and authorities ordered him to stay away from that block. But Evans was arrested there Oct. 6 for drug possession with intent to sell. He posted $5,000 bail and was released the next day.
During this time, the federal probation office requested that Evans be monitored through GPS tracking for four months, starting in November 2006. Court records show he also tested positive for marijuana on Sept. 26, 2006; Dec. 18, 2006; and May 18, 2007.
In May 2007, after a witness identified Evans as the shooter, city police charged him with the Parks slaying. With the new charges against him, federal officials decided to take out their own warrant, charging Evans with violating his probation.
"It should be noted," federal probation officer Christopher L. Keating wrote in court papers. "that the alleged crimes took place on 4/26/06 while Mr. Evans was a resident at the Volunteers of America."
matthew.dolan@baltsun.com
Timeline
Spring 2000: Two employees are charged with accepting bribes from inmates in 1998 and 1999 so they can wander city streets at night. The workers later pleaded guilty.
March 28, 2006: Nolan L. Evans arrives at halfway house after serving an 86-month prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a handgun.
April 26, 2006: Police find 37-year-old Larry Parks on a street in Northwest Baltimore suffering from gunshot wounds. He is left paralyzed from the neck down.
April 28, 2006: A VOA programs director warns Evans that he risks returning to prison because he does not have a job.
May 11, 2006: Evans is discovered missing from halfway house; a staff member recommends that Evans be ousted from facility.
May 31, 2006: Evans is written up for failing to obey a staff member.
June 12, 2006: Federal probation official writes in a report that Evans threatened a VOA staff member. Evans is returned to federal custody.
Aug. 20, 2006: Evans is shot in both legs in the 3900 block of Norfolk Ave. but recovers.
Oct. 6, 2006: Evans is arrested on that same block and charged by city police with possessing drugs with intent to distribute.
Nov. 5, 2006: Parks dies at St. Agnes Hospital; his death is ruled a homicide
April 2007: Ten inmates are discovered missing from VOA; two probationary officers are suspected of taking bribes from the inmates and later fired.
May 2007: Baltimore police charge Evans in Parks' death. A federal probation officer writes: "It should be noted that the alleged crimes took place on 4/26/06 while Mr. Evans was a resident at Volunteers of America."
March 2008: A five-year, $3.6 million contract with the federal prison system is set to expire; officials have given no indication of whether it will be renewed.