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WILKES-BARRE — A review of surveillance recordings by Commonwealth Health Wilkes-Barre General Hospital officials on Tuesday allegedly reveals an alleged kidnapper and his teenage victim, subjects of an Amber Alert, were inside the facility for 45 minutes on Friday.

The time frame conflicts with a criminal complaint filed by Wilkes-Barre police alleging Walter Lewis, 21, and Jenea Patterson, 16, had watched television “all day” in a sixth floor day room inside the hospital.

According to hospital spokesperson Renita Fennick, surveillance tapes at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital show Lewis and Patterson entering the hospital shortly before 9:30 p.m. Friday and being escorted out of the hospital about 45 minutes later.

A security officer, after being alerted by a hospital employee that “two teens were hanging out” in a day room on the sixth floor, asked the pair to leave around 10:15 p.m. and called police when he noticed they fit the description provided by the Amber Alert.

Another security officer outside the emergency department watched the two leave the hospital and was able to provide police with the direction they walked, Fennick said.

Attempts to reach Wilkes-Barre Police Chief Robert Hughes on Tuesday to address the discrepancy in time frames between court papers and Fennick’s statement were unsuccessful.

A criminal complaint filed against Lewis charging him with several firearm offenses alleges Lewis and Patterson were watching television “all day” in a day room on the hospital’s sixth floor.

Police were called to the hospital at about 11:30 p.m. Friday when a security officer recognized the two were subjects of the Amber Alert. A search of the area turned up nothing.

Police then reviewed surveillance video at the hospital and identified Lewis and Patterson. As police were questioning hospital staff, they received information that Lewis and Patterson were in the adjacent parking garage.

Police allege Lewis initiated a foot chase and discarded a 9mm pistol. He ran out of the garage and across North River Street where he was nearly struck by a passing vehicle, court records say.

Lewis was apprehended near Hollenback Cemetery after he was stunned by a Taser deployed by an officer.

Cor Catena, CEO of Commonwealth Health, and John Watkins, security manager at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, on Saturday praised their security personnel for the professional manner in which they worked with local and federal law enforcement officials during the pursuit and capture of Lewis.

“I am very proud of the cooperation that was displayed between our department and local law enforcement officers and the U.S. Marshal Department,” Watkins stated. “They all worked together and the suspect was taken into custody without incident.”

Lewis remains jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $300,000 total bail on kidnapping, simple assault, terroristic threats, reckless endangerment and several firearm offenses. His $25,000 unsecured bail on assault charges alleging he assaulted Patterson in an ally near Oliver Street, Wilkes-Barre, in October was revoked by county Judge David Lupas on Monday. Lupas set Lewis’ bail on the October assault charges at $50,000, court records say.

By Ed Lewis

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Reach Ed Lewis at 570-991-6116 or on Twitter @TLEdLewis