Oberlin man escapes from jail

Man had ties with students

On Saturday, July 11, 41-year-old Daryl Copeland, an Oberlin resident, was recaptured after escaping the Oberlin City Jail five days earlier. Copeland, who spent time on campus, had connections with several students.

Copeland had been charged with aggravated menacing after being arrested in his van on July 1. The charges were in response to a letter Copeland was reported to have written to a 20-year-old student in which he threatened to rape her and kill himself.

A police report said Copeland had become infatuated with the woman but she informed him that she was not interested in a relationship. This reportedly led Copeland to write the threatening letter to her.

A former housemate of Copeland's, who wished to remain anonymous, had been told by Copeland the woman to whom he had addressed the letter was attracted to him. "According to him he wrote the letter so she would not like him anymore. He had no intention of sending it," he said.

Copeland's escape was recorded on a video camera which continuously filmed the booking area of the police station. Copeland was left alone in a booking area, although a dispatcher was still in view of him. Copeland is twice seen gauging the dispatcher's reaction by crawling out the door. Using a back door that had been left open, Copeland made his escape.

By closing the door after himself, Copeland threw the police off his track. The police saw the locked door and assumed he must still be in the building. After reviewing the surveillance tape they realized Copeland was out, and they began an unsuccessful search in the local area.

Cleveland police found Copeland sleeping in the lobby of a building five days later. He was arrested and returned to local custody.

"Copeland is being held in the Lorain County Jail pending indictment for escape," said Robert Jones, Oberlin police chief, who did not know when a trial would be set.

College senior Lendri Purcell, one of the students with whom Copeland lived before his arrest said, "I want it to be known that I don't think he's a dangerous person. I think he has some mental illnesses. He is a lonely individual."

Copeland attended campus functions and met Oberlin students while living out of his van in College parking lots. "He was in the library all the time," said his former housemate. Copeland also attended classes and participated in campus politics, expressing a particular interest in race relations.

Copeland stayed with a group of students at their off-campus house last year. Another former housemate who wished to remain anonymous said, "He was just supposed to be staying there a few nights. He was staying there under the pretense that he was friends with someone, but it turned out he wasn't."

Some of the housemates grew very close to Copeland, while other members of the house kept their distance. "There were a lot of conflicts in our house because people felt like they were manipulated into letting him stay," said one housemate.

Copeland had been without a home when he found shelter with the Oberlin students. "I think everyone in our house was overly friendly and naive," said one anonymous housemate.

Copeland has contacted some of his former housemates with a letter. "He wanted us to come visit him. He's in lockup 23 hours a day. I plan to visit him," the student said.

If convicted of the felony escape charge, Copeland could receive a more serious sentence for his harassment charge. Jones said there are four degrees of felony charges, one being the most serious and four being the least.

He said, "If someone is convicted of escape, it usually means the charge will be moved to the next degree down," meaning the more serious degree.

Jones said there have not been plans to improve the police station's security system, "It was just a lax in security from our people. We critiqued that and are going to enforce the rules that we already have in place."