By TOM KRISHER
Associated Press Writer
DETROIT- Michigan’s Department of Corrections disbanded its parole supervision unit, fired an employee and disciplined others over an inmate who went on a deadly crime spree after he was mistakenly released.
Safeguards have been put in place to prevent mistakes like the one that put Patrick Selepak on the streets, Corrections Director Patricia L. Caruso said Wednesday in Detroit.
Caruso, in announcing the results of a three-month investigation into Selepak’s early release, laid most of the blame on the department’s parole supervision unit, which she disbanded. She placed the unit’s responsibilities under the supervision of the parole board.
“The investigation showed severe problems within this unit,” she said. “There was an apparent lack of leadership, rampant misuse of discretion and very little supervision by the individuals responsible for overseeing that office.”
Selepak had been out of prison for armed robbery about five months when he was arrested on a parole violation in November. His parole officer recommended he go back to prison, but a corrections employee mistakenly thought he had to be released because he had not gotten a parole hearing within 45 days of his arrest.
Selepak has been charged with killing three people in a cocaine-and alcohol-fueled crime spree in February. He pleaded guilty in May to shooting and strangling of 53-year-old Winfield Johnson in rural Genesee County, north of Flint, and has said he will plead guilty in June to killing Scott and Melissa Berels, both 27, in their home in Macomb County, north of Detroit. Selepak’s 19-year-old fiancee, Samantha Bachynski, has pleaded not guilty.