Two Men Charged With Theft From Former Sykesville Psychiatric Facility

Maryland State Police said they have charged two men Wednesday afternoon in the theft of copper, aluminum and steel from the former Henryton Center in Sykesville, once a psychiatric facility.

Mark Dewayne Walker, 46, of the 300 block of South Homers Lane in Rockville, and Billy Joe Chapman, 54, of the 21400 block of Clarksville Road in Boyds, were charged with felony theft, burglary and malicious destruction of property. They were both taken before a District Court Commissioner and released on their own recognizance, according to police. 

At approximately 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Maryland State Police troopers from the Westminster Barrack responded to the former Henryton Center, located on Henryton Road in Sykesville, after they were contacted by a private security company that was patrolling the grounds for trespassers, according to the release. 

The security company located a truck pulling a trailer on the grounds, and security officers could hear someone inside a building using a saw, according to police. 

When troopers arrived, they located two men in one of the buildings actively cutting steel from the structure of the building. Troopers also noticed that the trailer and truck were nearly filled to capacity with steel, copper and aluminum, according to the release.

Both men were taken into custody without incident and their vehicle and trailer were seized, police said.

The Henryton Center opened in 1923, and was Maryland’s first tuberculosis hospital for African Americans. Henryton Center was later converted to a psychiatric facility and was closed in 1985. The property remains under the jurisdiction of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.