RCMP nab man mistakenly released from jail

The Mounties have arrested a man who was wrongly released more than a week ago from a Dartmouth jail, the third such mistake in a month.

RCMP in Halifax said they picked up Eric Latham, 23, around 4 a.m. Wednesday when they pulled over a car on Cole Harbour Road for a routine traffic violation.

"One of the males seemed fidgety," Cpl. Joe Taplin told CBC News.

Latham gave the officer a false name, and as he was being placed under arrest, a search turned up a loaded gun, Taplin said.

"[The officer] placed the individual under arrest until he could determine his identity and … he searched and felt what he believed was a revolver on Latham's person."

Taplin said the officer called for backup.

"Backup arrived, and they did a search and removed a loaded revolver from him," he said.

Latham is to appear in Dartmouth provincial court on Wednesday to face charges of obstruction, resisting arrest and several weapons-related offences.

Latham, from Dartmouth, is already facing charges of aggravated assault and unauthorized possession of a firearm.

He was released on bail in June. However, that bail was revoked.

Halifax Regional Police picked him up on Jan. 12 and took him back to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.

Latham was released in error soon after when the supervisor on duty misread the police paperwork and told him he was free to go.

"In reviewing the documentation at a later point in time, we determined that the warrant itself was legitimate and we could have held him in custody," Sean Kelly, director of provincial correctional services, told CBC News on Tuesday.

Paperwork mixups led to other releases

This is the third time in a month that someone in a Nova Scotia jail has been let out by mistake.

Guy Rudolph Beaudoin, who is charged with assault, was released from the Dartmouth facility on Dec. 13. He turned himself in the next day.

On Jan. 11, Douglas Edward Young, accused of sexual assault, was released from the Cape Breton Correctional Facility due to what the department called "a communications oversight."

Young turned himself in five days later.

Kelly said the department is learning from its mistakes and has drafted new arrests forms that are more difficult to misinterpret.