Home Virginia prison escapee Naseem Roulack captured by U.S. Marshals, Fairfax County Police
Public Safety, Virginia

Virginia prison escapee Naseem Roulack captured by U.S. Marshals, Fairfax County Police

Chris Graham
Naseem Isaiah Roulack headshot
Naseem Isaiah Roulack, Image courtesy Virginia Department of Corrections

Naseem Roulack, 21, on the lam since walking out of a Henrico County hospital room past sleeping corrections officers back on Aug. 12, is finally back in custody.

A release from the Virginia Department of Corrections reports that Roulack, who was serving a 13-year sentence for aggravated malicious wounding, grand larceny and hit-and-run, was captured at 9 a.m. on Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service and the Fairfax County Police Department.

No other details of the apprehension were made available.

“I want to thank the U.S. Marshals Service, Virginia State Police, Fairfax County Police Department and other local, state and federal law enforcement partners for their tireless efforts assisting the VADOC’s investigators and officers in the effort to recapture this inmate,” VADOC Director Chadwick Dotson said in the release.

Roulack, an inmate at the Greensville Correctional Center, escaped from the supervision of two VADOC security officers at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital near the Henrico County-Richmond line at approximately 5:50 a.m. the morning of Aug. 12.

In addition to the officers being literally asleep at their posts, authorities bumbled the initial response once they found out that Roulack had escaped custody, delaying placing the hospital on lockdown until 7 a.m., more than an hour later.

By that time, Roulack was already a mile away, breaking into the residence of a 70-year-old Richmond man who told CBS 6 in Richmond that he’s “just lucky that I wasn’t hurt.”

“He took the keys to my Buick, $111 cash, a credit card, and a driver’s license,” the man told CBS 6 reporter Melissa Hipolit.

The man, who was not identified, said he found a hospital gown on the living-room floor of his home, and was told by investigating officers that it belonged to Roulack.

Local police – in Richmond and Henrico County – also faced criticism in the aftermath for not alerting the surrounding community about the escape.

Henrico County sent out a reverse 911 alert at 8:37 a.m., nearly three hours after Roulack was last seen by authorities.

Richmond Police never sent any notifications out to area residents about the escape.

Roulack was later named a suspect in the Sept. 1 armed theft of an automobile in Montgomery County, Md.

We don’t have any updates on the status of the investigation into that incident.

We do have a final report from VADOC on the escape issued on Oct. 13 that noted the two corrections officers who admitted to being asleep on the job as Roulack escaped had resigned their jobs on Aug. 23.

 

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].