Waco jailers release felon by mistake – again

U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force round him up

Waco – McLennan County jailers released a methamphetamine trafficker despite federal detainer status when the District Attorney declined prosecution for assault – family violence charges.

Corrections officers released Woodrow Shuler on Dec. 22. Mr. Shuler, who has been convicted of methamphetamine trafficking, had violated supervised release conditions on 7 counts. He was arrested by police on Nov. 26 for assaulting Ruby Williams. He allegedly choked her and hit her face, shoulder and back with his hands.

Supervised release is a hybrid of parole and probation. According to a clerk in the U.S. Magistrate's office, Ms. Williams is also a convicted methamphetamine trafficker.

Other violations include admitting the use of methamphetimines on two occasions, association with a known methamphetamine user, failing to submit to a drug test, and leaving the Salvation Army halfway house without permission on Nov. 23.

U.S. Marshals arrested another felon who had been released by the McLennan County Sheriff's Office by mistake on a similar family violence charge earlier this year. He was apprehended in Mexia where he had violated the terms of his probation by seeking out the company of an assault victim, a woman whom he had plead guilty to attacking in an earlier incident.