x
Breaking News
More () »

New Haven man no longer going to prison due to ‘miscommunication’

NEW HAVEN – Demetrius Anderson, who spent three years at Cheshire Correctional Institution for identity theft crimes, was released on probation in 2006 and has ...

NEW HAVEN – Demetrius Anderson, who spent three years at Cheshire Correctional Institution for identity theft crimes, was released on probation in 2006 and has stayed out of trouble ever since.

But, on March 20th,  Anderson said he was shocked."I was getting ready for work," he recalled. "Could you imagine eight marshals, agents, banging on your door."

He was under arrest for failure to serve a 16 month federal sentence in Pennsylvania. Strange, right?

Federal officials in Philadelphia claimed that they had lodged a detainer with the State of Connecticut, which, Pennsylvania asserts, was supposed to hand Anderson over to them to serve his 16 months back in 2006.

Anderson served three years for the Connecticut crimes and thought his 16 month federal sentence was being served concurrently because, in 2006, when his Connecticut sentence was served, he was released to probation. But, last week, Anderson learned he was not done with the law.

So why didn't Pennsylvania follow through 13 years ago? Attorney Michael Dolan, Anders's lawyer, had no answer.

"It’s just so much stuff in my head," Anderson said Thursday afternoon. "It’s still the unthinkable. It’s just like a bad nightmare that I can’t wake up from."

But, on April 2nd, Dolan announced that Anderson would not have to report back to jail.

He said there was a miscommunication between the Connecticut Department of Corrections and federal authorities in Pennsylvania back when he was released from Cheshire Correctional.

Dolan goes on to say that federal authorities had insisted that Anderson should have been turned over to them when his prison term was done in Connecticut. But Anderson says he was under the impression that he was serving the 16 month federal prison term concurrent to his three-year Connecticut sentence.

A deal was struck, and he was given credit for the 16 month sentence. Authorities say he no longer owes any additional time.

Anderson was even preparing to make an appeal to President Trump for a commutation.

Before You Leave, Check This Out