SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Corrections Department says a "major technical glitch" in a crime victim notification system has triggered thousands of false notices about the release of inmates.
KGW-TV reports that one of those error messages generated Friday evening said a notorious convicted murderer had been released. Corrections spokeswoman Betty Bernt confirmed that Ward Weaver III remains locked up. He was convicted of aggravated murder in 2004 for the deaths of two young Oregon girls.
Corrections spokeswoman Elizabeth Craig tells KTVZ-TV that there were about 8,000 erroneous notifications that inmates had been released.
State officials say "routine system maintenance" in Oregon's Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system apparently triggered the erroneous messages. The state said service contractor Appriss was working on repairs and planned to alert everyone who received bad information.
An Appriss spokeswoman did not immediately return an Associated Press call and email for additional information.
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