By Karen Shuey
Reading Eagle
READING EAGLE, Pa. — What started out as a relatively calm prisoner transport Tuesday turned into a guns-drawn, hourlong search through a wooded area near Blue Marsh Lake.
As a result, the Berks County Prison inmate who briefly escaped from a constable’s vehicle in Lower Heidelberg Township while handcuffed and shackled will face new charges.
When he escaped, James B. Ciaramitaro, 38, of Easton was on his way back to prison after waiving a hearing before District Judge Ann L. Young in her South Heidelberg Township office on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief.
Constable Dennis M. Moyer said that he had just traveled through the intersection of Brownsville and State Hill roads — at which point Brownsville becomes Rebers Bridge Road — shortly before 12:30 p.m. when Ciaramitaro kicked through a rear window of the vehicle and threw himself onto the road.
“I pulled off the road,” said Moyer, pointing to a blue minivan, “and my partner took off after him into the woods.”
Lower Heidelberg Police Chief Thomas W. Deiterich said three or four other prisoners were in the van when Ciaramitaro fled into woods. The inmates said Ciaramitaro told them he planned to hide out in Blue Marsh Lake until after police had searched the area.
State police searched by boat and helicopter, and were assisted by numerous K-9 units before finding Ciaramitaro in a tree along Rebers Bridge Road.
After police surrounded the area, Ciaramitaro came down on his own and was arrested.
“Everybody worked together to coordinate the search and, even though it felt a lot longer than an hour, we were able to apprehend this gentleman rather quickly,” Deiterich said, adding that moving through the thick brush was difficult in the heat and humidity.
He said that based on a preliminary investigation, Moyer had followed proper protocol in securing the prisoners.
“It was just some fluke thing that happened,” Deiterich said. “Somehow he was able to unhook the lap belt while still being handcuffed and then move around in the van enough to kick out the window.”
Ciaramitaro had been arrested in Michigan as a fugitive from Berks. He was being held in Berks County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Ciaramitaro is accused of breaking into a home in the 400 block of Wilshire Boulevard, Spring Township, last Aug. 19 after escaping from Wernersville Community Corrections Center in South Heidelberg Township.
Police said he took more than $2,000 worth of jewelry. He is also accused of breaking into an Alsace Township home the next day.
Authorities said he was matched to the crime scene by DNA evidence.