Hospital failed to notify media and area law enforcement of the seriousness of the escapee’s criminal record.
By Nick Bonham
The Pueblo Chieftain
PUEBLO, Colo. — Local authorities are looking for state hospital escapee Mark Hartman, who’s been on the lam since Feb. 17.
Hartman’s escape also sparked controversy about community notification procedures at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where the 49-year-old has been committed since 1990.
According to a Denver newspaper, Hartman’s been in and out of the Department of Corrections and state hospital since 1983. It was in that year that Hartman and a cohort went on a multi-state crime spree that ended in Golden, where they shot a man and burned his body.
Hartman was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 36 years in prison, the Denver newspaper said. In 1990, he was committed to the state hospital after pleading not guilty by reason of insanity for possession of contraband in prison. As of Dec. 1, Hartman had been living away from the hospital campus in a private Pueblo residence, said CMHIP spokeswoman Eunice Wolther. Hartman obviously had progressed in treatment to be allowed to integrate into the community, which some patients often do.
Wolther said reports that he had been living in a halfway house were false. She admitted, however she didn’t know about Hartman’s violent past and didn’t include it in a press release alerting the media of his escape.
“I didn’t have that information at the time,” she said. “I’ve never gone into (patients’) past to include that in our report to the community. In lieu of this, I am going to start.”
Hartman was placed on escape status last week when he failed to attend required therapy sessions.
“He called his therapist and told her he didn’t have transportation for his meeting with her, but he would be there the next time,” Wolther said. “He failed to show up for the next meeting.”
State Rep. Liane “Buffie” McFadyen said she’s requesting a formal audit of the state hospital’s community notification protocol.
“It appears more information should’ve been given to the general public and law enforcement about this escape. It seems it was incomplete and misleading about his danger to the public, the media and law enforcement,” the Pueblo West Democrat said.
“We have to look at how the notification is done, and if Wolther’s saying she doesn’t have those files, they have to be in the department of human services or somewhere. They have to be ready to notify the public.”
Wolther said she sent out e-mails to the media, including The Pueblo Chieftain, about Hartman the day he was placed on escape status. The newspaper did not receive the messages.
Wolther said the state hospital’s police force and the Pueblo Police Department are working together to locate Hartman. The Chieftain talked with several officers and ranking members of the police department and none were aware of Hartman or his escape.
The CMHIP press release states that “when the patients are in a controlled environment and are taking their medications, we feel they are not a danger, but there is a potential for them to be a threat to public safety when they are not in the controlled environment.”
Hartman has brown hair and eyes, is 5-foot-8 inches tall and weighs 145-150 pounds.
Anyone with information of Hartman’s whereabouts are asked to call the state hospital at 546-4000, or Pueblo police at 549-1200.
Copyright 2009 The Pueblo Chieftain