Ex-Fairview Township Police officer released from prison slightly early amid coronavirus
Tyson Baker was released on May 12 to community confinement after serving just more than two years at Federal Correctional Institution Gilmer in West Virginia.
Dylan SegelbaumA former Fairview Township Police officer who was convicted of theft charges has been released from federal prison slightly early in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
Tyson Baker, who spent 17 years with the Fairview Township Police Department, was released on May 12 to community confinement after serving more than two years at Federal Correctional Institution Gilmer in West Virginia, said Scott Taylor, a spokesman for the Bureau of Prisons, in an email.
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Jack McMahon, Baker’s attorney, said his client had already been scheduled to be released from prison in the summer or fall. He’s now serving the remainder of his sentence on home confinement.
“For protection of him, the jail, the community, it seemed like the right thing to do,” McMahon said. “And they did it.”
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In court documents, McMahon wrote that his client has preexisting health conditions that put him at higher risk from COVID-19.
Baker, he said, received an award for helping someone who'd been in a car crash whom he came upon while working outside the prison. Before the pandemic, it was recommended that he be released six to nine months early.
Attorney General William Barr has directed the Bureau of Prisons to release some nonviolent prisoners to home confinement to protect them and staff against the coronavirus.
“He was happy to be going home to his wife and kids,” McMahon said.
In 2017, Baker was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg on charges that he orchestrated the theft of $2,000 from a suspected drug trafficker and stole $3,000 in an FBI sting operation.
Senior U.S. District Judge Sylvia H. Rambo later sentenced him to 3 1/2 years in prison.
As part of his sentence, Baker must spend two years on supervised release.
Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.