Affidavit: State Hospital staff member questioned about how patient got contraband items

Michelle Messer and Cory Kristopher Chapin
Michelle Messer and Cory Kristopher Chapin

Before leaving with a patient Tuesday, an Arkansas State Hospital staff member was questioned about how the patient got contraband items and was told to not have contact with him, court records released Thursday show.

Michelle Messer, a psychological examiner at the hospital, faces one misdemeanor count of aiding an unauthorized departure after officials say she left the State Hospital with 46-year-old Cory Chapin on Tuesday. She had not been arrested as of Thursday afternoon, online court records show.

On Tuesday, Messer denied any knowledge of a cellphone and vaping machine that were found in Chapin's possession, according to an affidavit from Perry Wyse, police chief of the State Hospital Police Department.

The chief told Messer to have no contact with Chapin and said she needed to wait in her office for her supervisor to arrive at work. Instead, court records show, Messer left the police chief's office, went to a unit in the hospital and waited for Chapin to walk by the door where she was waiting.

"Messer opened the door and had patient Cory Chapin follow her into the hallway and out the rear door of the Arkansas State Hospital," the affidavit says. The two then left together, the affidavit states.

The court document said there was "great concern for the community safety and the safety of Michelle Messer."

The relationship between Chapin and Messer remained unclear Thursday.

Chapin has been the responsibility of the Human Services Department since December of 2015. He was ordered into the State Hospital's care after a Carroll County Circuit Court acquitted him on charges of attempted kidnapping and theft by reason of insanity or mental deficit.

Reportedly, he had taken his father's car without permission. After Carroll County law enforcement officers found him with the vehicle at a city park, they discovered a plastic pistol that had been painted black, handcuffs and machetes.

Chapin told officers that they had just stopped a kidnapping. Chapin reported that he had been on his way to abduct a Eureka Springs hairdresser, have sex with her, get her to listen to his story, then let her go.

Information for this article was provided by John Lynch of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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Metro on 03/23/2018

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