A fugitive with multiple active felony warrants escaped New Hampshire State Prison and remains on the loose after forcing an entire town into shelter-in-place — yet another failure of a system that can't contain dangerous criminals while January 6 protesters sit in federal cells on misdemeanor trespassing charges.
Daquhan Cromer, who was wanted on several felony charges in addition to his escape warrant, was the subject of an intense overnight manhunt in Salem, New Hampshire, according to MassLive. Police issued a shelter-in-place order at 10:44 p.m. Tuesday, warning residents that Cromer was believed to be armed and dangerous. The lockdown wasn't lifted until roughly 3 a.m. Wednesday, when authorities concluded Cromer had fled the area. He is still at large. Cromer is described as a 6-foot-2, 215-pound Black male with a short dark beard and short dreadlocks, last seen near Millville and Taylor Streets in Salem wearing a white tank top and dark pants.
A convicted felon walks out of a state prison and disappears into the night. The people of Salem were told to lock their doors because the state couldn't keep him behind them.
Meanwhile, the federal government's prosecutorial priorities are on full display elsewhere. In Illinois, Matthew G. Unglesbee was charged Monday with two felonies — false information and hoaxes, and mailing threatening communications — after sending letters containing a white granular substance to four members of Congress, the New York Post reported. Unglesbee put his own name and return address on every envelope. Inside, he wrote "HA HA" and "HAH enjoy the gift." He told the FBI the powder was salt and that he was joking — while admitting he knew it would be perceived as anthrax and anticipated hazmat responses. Preliminary lab testing detected no chemical or biological toxins. A fifth unmailed letter addressed to a congressperson's Washington, D.C., office was found during a search of his home.
Nobody is defending fake-anthrax mailings. Threatening government officials is a serious crime, and Unglesbee faces serious charges. But the contrast is unavoidable: a man who mailed salt to Congress, with his own return address on the envelope, gets the full weight of federal prosecution — while a prison escapee with active felony warrants simply walks away from a state penitentiary and vanishes. And while both of these cases proceed, January 6 defendants who walked through open doors in the Capitol have spent years in federal detention on misdemeanor charges.
The two-tier system isn't a talking point. It's a documented, measurable fact playing out in real time across the country. Cromer is still out there. Salem residents were locked in their homes because the state couldn't keep a felon locked in its own. Nobody will be fired. Nobody will answer for it.
