Sunday, June 24, 2007
COLUMBUS — An Austintown man who escaped from a mental health institution was arrested Sunday near Columbus.
Vincent Roberts, 37, who was charged with attempted murder for an attack on his mother, had escaped Friday from Heartland Behavioral Health Facility in Massillon.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Columbus police found Roberts after receiving a tip. A citizen who had seen media coverage of the escape spotted Roberts at a gas station on Interstate 70.
Roberts was taken to the Franklin County Jail.
In 2004, Roberts was charged with attempted murder, felonious assault, aggravated burglary and attempted aggravated burglary after his mother, Rita Roberts, was beaten severely with a chair.
He was found innocent by reason of insanity by Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Roberts was sent to the Northcoast Behavioral Healthcare System’s Northfield Campus in Cleveland where he was to be kept 10 years. A doctor at Forensic Psychiatric Center of Northeast Ohio determined that, among other things, Roberts suffered from schizophrenia and unspecified personality disorders.
Roberts had been at Heartland Behavioral in Massillon since last month. The patrol said Roberts was outside “on privileges” about 5 p.m. Friday when he ran away in an easterly direction toward Perry Township.