Police say former inmate was on drugs when he carjacked woman outside jail

Police say a Philadelphia man was under the influence of anxiety medication, marijuana and opioids on Dec. 4 when he carjacked a West Leechburg woman and sped away with her infant grandson in the backseat minutes after being released from Westmoreland County Prison, according to new court documents.

County park police already had charged Thomas Lee Williams, 36, with kidnapping, robbery of a vehicle and two counts each of aggravated assault and reckless endangerment. State troopers on Monday alleged that Williams was under the influence of “a combination of drugs” and incapable of driving safely when he crashed about 2 miles away in Youngwood and fled into the woods before being arrested.

Dorothy Pearlman, 65, and her grandson, Adrian Pearlman, were not injured in the incident. Pearlman said she was waiting in the car with her grandson while her daughter-in-law visited her husband — Pearlman’s son — in the jail. That’s when Pearlman said a man she didn’t know got into the passenger seat of her car and assaulted her.

She said the man pushed her out of the car and sped off with her grandson still in the back seat.

In addition to the initial carjacking-related charges, Williams also is charged with driving under the influence of a controlled substance, driving without a license, driving while operating privilege is revoked, driving on the wrong side of the highway, driving at an unsafe speed, careless driving and reckless driving.

A forensic blood test at Excela Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg following the crash showed that Williams had traces of multiple drugs in his system, Trooper Adam Schrock reported in court documents filed before Hempfield District Judge Mark Mansour.

Schrock said when police caught up with Williams after he crashed the 2018 Kia Optima station wagon, “he openly expressed erratic behavior.”

Williams told responding officers that “he just got out of jail and was being chased by people with guns,” Schrock reported. “He also made various comments about seeing things that were not there. I observed (Williams’) pupils were constricted. I also observed the defendant to be sweating profusely.”

Williams told investigators he stole the vehicle and crashed due to believing “people were after him,” Schrock said.

He also admitted that he was under the influence of drugs, Schrock said.

Williams’ preliminary hearing is scheduled Jan. 25. Mansour ordered that he be held in jail on $250,000 bail after the December incident.

Warden John Walton said Monday that Williams had only been locked up “for one day” after being arrested on a bench warrant related to a South Greensburg drug-dealing conviction. Inmates who are brought in on pre-trial detainers are not subjected to a strip search or the new body scan machine, which may have possibly detected whether he was carrying contraband, Walton said.

“We only do a pat down and check their belongings…,” he said. “There is no cavity search or body scan done.”

Judge Tim Krieger closed the 2016 case against Williams during a bench warrant hearing Dec. 4, according to online records. He served three to 12 months in that case after pleading guilty in January 2017, but his parole was revoked March 2017 and he was overdue in paying $1,131 costs and fees, according to records.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib.