Former Convicted Child Molester Mistakenly Released From Prison

COBB COUNTY, GA — A formerly convicted child molester who was mistakenly released from prison turned himself in after several days on the loose, according to reports. Paul Serdula was released from the Wheeler Correctional Facility on March 30 and turned himself in Wednesday, April 4, to the Cobb County Jail.

Serdula was sentenced to life in prison, plus 25 years, after being convicted in 2011 of child molestation and sodomy of at least 19 patients who were sedated under his care while he was a nurse, according to CBS46.

Serdula alleged a conflict of interest in February, claiming his trial judge, Rueben Green, and the Cobb County District Attorney Patrick Head had a "close association," CBS reported. He asked for Green to be recused from the case and was denied initially, but the Georgia Court of Appeals vacated Serdula's convictions and granted a recusal hearing.

Because of the recusal hearing, Serdula was supposed to be transferred to Cobb County Jail. But, since he had no bond, guards at the Wheeler Correctional Facility mistakenly set him free.

CBS obtained a comment from the Department of Corrections on the incident:

"Once the sentence was vacated, Cobb reached out to GDC and made a request to release directly to them. That request was documented. When the individuals at Wheeler CI began running their normal release process on Serdula, they found no detainers and no legal authority to hold him. They did, however, overlook the request that had been made by Cobb."

Serdula is now at the Cobb County Jail awaiting the recusal hearing.

Article image via Shutterstock