ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – The Roanoke County sheriff has taken action against three employees after an inmate, who should have never been selected in the first place, walked off his work detail in July.
On July 17, David McFall walked off a work detail around 11:30 a.m. in the Hollins Road area near the county garage and was caught shortly before 2 p.m. just inside Roanoke city limits.
Roanoke County Sheriff Eric Orange says McFall should never have been on work release to begin with because of his "violent criminal history."
Roanoke County police arrested McFall on October 25, 2018, in connection with an armed robbery at a Dollar General on Williamson Road.
Orange says a member of his staff failed to follow policy when allowing David McFall to be a member of the Community Work Crew.
According to the county's policy, inmates with a violent criminal history or those convicted to more than three years are ineligible for work release. McFall met neither of those qualifications.
"We found there was some policy things that had not been followed to the letter of the policy and so as a result, there were some personnel actions that were taken," said Orange.
Orange says three people's actions contributed to allowing this to happen. He says those people have been dealt with. He would not go into detail about what action was taken because it was a personnel matter.
According to the sheriff, as long as policy is followed, it decreases the chance of this happening ever again.