Sister convicted of helping Greene Co. jail escapee elude authorities
WAYNESBURG – The sister of the man who escaped from Greene County jail in late December was convicted last week of helping him while he was on the run from authorities.
Vanessa Wendy Hanlan was convicted by a Greene County jury during her daylong trial Thursday on two counts of hindering apprehension and criminal conspiracy for providing aid to Waylon Hanlan after he escaped from the jail Dec. 27 and eluded capture for two days.
Prosecutors said Vanessa Hanlan, 24, of Dilliner, conspired with her brother to plot his escape while talking over a jail telephone line and had planned to pick him up near the prison after he cut through a vinyl wall in jail’s minimum security G-block and climbed a perimeter fence to escape. She left in her car before they could meet up at a nearby parking lot, investigators said, so Waylon Hanlan stole an all-terrain vehicle and drove it to the family’s home at 859 Bald Hill Road in Dunkard Township. There, police said, she gave him car keys and new clothes so he could change out of his prison attire.
Waylon Hanlan was arrested two days later and Vanessa, along with their two brothers, Shane and Clinton, were charged with assisting him during his escape. Waylon Hanlan pleaded guilty in April to escaping from the jail.
District Attorney Marjorie Fox thanked the state police, county prison staff and U.S. marshals for their work to find and arrest Waylon Hanlan and charge those who helped him while he was on the run for about 45 hours.
“Assisting a fugitive is a serious offense,” Fox said.
Vanessa Hanlan’s defense attorney, David Russo, could not be reached for comment Monday. Following her conviction, Vanessa Hanlan was taken to Greene County jail to await her sentencing at a later date.
Meanwhile, their father, Hodge Hanlan, was also convicted last week of one misdemeanor count of hindering apprehension by giving false information to police for lying to investigators on the location of his other son, Shane Hanlan, who U.S. marshals had been trying to locate for several months. The jury acquitted Hodge Hanlan, 71, of the more serious charge of providing aid to a fugitive during the one-day trial Friday.
Police said Hodge Hanlan lied to investigators when they asked him if he had seen Shane Hanlan in early January. U.S. marshals had been searching for Shane Hanlan since May 2015 after he failed to show for a sentencing hearing following a conviction of receiving stolen property. Surveillance video introduced at the trial showed the father and son together Jan. 6 at the Dilliner Convenience Store.
When authorities stormed the family’s Bald Hill residence the following day, they found Shane Hanlan in the home while Hodge Hanlan was sleeping on a living room couch.
Charles Morris, Hodge Hanlan’s defense attorney, said the jury arrived to the right conclusion by acquitting him of the more serious charge of aiding a fugitive.
“We were certainly saying that he didn’t know his son was back in the house when police came through the door,” Morris said. “But he was with his son (at the convenience store) at some point during the evening.”
Hodge Hanlan is free on an unsecured bond while he awaits sentencing.