By Rick Bruni Jr.

Published: Thursday, February 14, 2013, 1:16 a.m.
Updated: Monday, February 18, 2013

Police are still searching for a Roscoe man who escaped from a police cruiser in the borough Tuesday night following a drug arrest.

However, they charged the man's girlfriend, Cheryl Bartus, 68, after finding drugs at their residence.

RESA police said Ramsey Hyslop, 46, of 913 Arthur St., was still on the loose as of Wednesday night.

In the residence, police found 145 stamp bags of suspected heroin, 26 oxycodone pills and $966 in Bartus' purse.

Bartus, also known as Cheryl Cantoni, was placed in the Washington County Correctional Facility in lieu of $25,000 straight cash bond.

Police said Hyslop's 2006 Harley-Davidson motorcycle was seized as evidence.

Hyslop was arrested around 7:45 p.m. Tuesday on outstanding bench warrants when police found two bricks of heroin and drug paraphernalia on him.

Hyslop was handcuffed behind his back and placed in the rear of a squad car, and officers went back to question Bartus and gather evidence.

That's when Hyslop supposedly pulled the handcuffs under his legs and in front of his body before crawling through a partition between the front and rear of the police cruiser and escaping.

Police from five municipalities and groups of firefighters searched for Hyslop for nearly four hours Tuesday night. He is not considered armed.

Patrolman Mike Leasure said he went back to the residence around 4 a.m. Wednesday and noticed a side door was open, even though he had secured the house after Bartus' arrest.

Leasure estimated that Hyslop had returned to the residence and got in by breaking a rear window sometime around 2:30 a.m.

“He was hiding somewhere, possibly an abandoned house. He went back to his house, broke through and got some warm clothes,” said Leasure, adding that Hyslop possibly made a phone call from a landline while there.

“He was definitely back at the residence.”

Police charged Hyslop with 14 counts of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to deliver and single counts of escape and flight to avoid apprehension.

He faces numerous misdemeanor charges.

Hyslop is a 6-foot-2, 160-pound white male with long, white hair in a pony tail. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call Washington County 911.

Rick Bruni Jr. is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at rbruni@tribweb.com or 724-684-2635.

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