A mistake at the Fresno County jail puts two dangerous inmates back on the street. They are 25-year-old Paul Richard Prieto of Dinuba, and 35-year-old Timothy James Van of Fresno.The Fresno County Sheriff's Department is chalking this mistake up to budget cuts. There are too few correctional officers with too many responsibilities now... so sometimes some inmates don't get processed properly. Prieto was in jail for armed robbery and was facing 100 years to life behind bars. He was mistakenly released nine days ago. He reportedly had the same last name as another inmate that was scheduled to be released. Van was mistakenly released Monday. He was arrested for domestic violence and was suppose to be released to a probation agency, instead, he walk out of jail under no supervision. The sheriffs department says this is not the first time this has happened and it won't be the last. "These officers handle thousands of paperwork a week and 70 to 100 releases a day. Every once in a while something's going to happen and that's what happened in this case" said Captain Rick Hill. Sheriff Margaret Mims released a statement Wednesday. "Every year, we process thousands of releases for various reasons with minimal error. These were not early releases. At this time, they appear to be due to officer error."
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