Rapist and child molester Tony Maycon Munoz-Mendez, imprisoned at Rogers State Prison in Reidsville, walked free last Friday. He was serving a life sentence when he swapped places with an inmate set to be released, and it took prison staff approximately three days to discover he was missing.
The public wasn’t notified until Monday afternoon by the Georgia Department of Corrections. Incredibly, the department issued conflicting press releases, first stating Munoz-Mendez was released in error on October 25 and then stating in a second release that he was released on October 28. As this is written, the department also hasn’t explained how the error had occurred or why it had not been revealed sooner.
Corrections Department spokeswoman Lori Benoit said the agency is reviewing the circumstances surrounding his release and would carry out a “full internal investigation.”
John Warr, the Gwinnett County prosecutor who handled the case, said Munoz-Mendez had begun molesting a 7-year-old, culminating in rape several years later. Warr, who helped convict Munoz-Mendez, told The New York Times that he had learned about the accidental release by reading an article online. The newspaper reported that Warr “immediately” called the victim, who lives with a foster mother, and that they were both “shocked.” Neither had been contacted by the corrections agency, he said.
Warr noted that Georgia recently passed a constitutional amendment bolstering the rights of crime victims to be notified about updates in legal cases involving those who have harmed them. “I don’t think those were adhered to,” he said, “definitely not in a timely manner.”
By the way, the escapee was captured in Kentucky late Wednesday night.
