An Elkton man pleaded guilty Thursday in Harford County Circuit Court to attempted first-degree murder after he brutally attacked a county sheriff’s office correctional deputy on Nov. 22.
Evidence presented to Judge Diane Adkins-Tobin established that Matthew Dwight Tingler, 37, used a telephone receiver to strike Cpl. Michael Vesek in the face before wrapping a phone cord around Vesek’s neck. Vesek was supervising Tingler, who was placing a phone call in the counseling office at the Harford County Detention Center, according to the Harford County State’s Attorney’s Office.
During the call, Tingler became enraged and used the telephone receiver to strike Vesek in the face. Tingler fought Vesek to the floor, and once on the ground, Tingler tried to strangle Vesek with his hands before wrapping the phone cord around Vesek’s neck multiple times, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Tingler hit Vesek repeatedly in the face with the phone receiver, a tape dispenser and a portable radio that Tingler removed from a desk in the office. Vesek lost consciousness before other correctional deputies responded and found Tingler attacking Vesek, who was motionless, semiconscious and bleeding profusely. Deputies unwrapped the cord from Vesek’s neck and he was transported to Johns Hopkins Bayview for treatment, the state’s attorney’s office said.
In an interview after the incident, Tingler said that he became upset while on the phone because he believed his fiance was with another man.
Tingler was charged with attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, assault by an inmate toward an employee, reckless endangerment, and use of a deadly weapon to unlawfully injure an individual. Tingler pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder.
Harford County State’s Attorney Alison Healey and Assistant State’s Attorney Megan Lintott negotiated the guilty plea, which comes with a recommended maximum sentence of life in prison and a provision that the defense may not argue for anything less than 30 years of incarceration. According to the plea agreement, the court may not impose a sentence of less than 30 years and may impose a maximum sentence of up to life in prison.
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Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10, following the completion of a psychological evaluation on Tingler.
“I commend Cpl. Vesek for his bravery in both enduring this brutal attack and for his willingness to testify in this trial, which he was fully prepared to do in the coming days, as we were scheduled to select the jury for trial today,” Healey said in a news release. “I also thank him for his nearly 25 years of service to Harford County as a correctional deputy. … The attempt to take the life of one of our correctional deputies is particularly egregious and deserves the maximum penalties allowed by law. We will argue for not a day less than a life sentence on August 10th.”
The Harford County Sheriff’s Office posted a statement from Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler on its Facebook page. Gahler said that the trial sends a clear message that the Harford County Sheriff’s Office will not accept violence perpetrated against its deputies.
“Today, I sat in the courtroom as a man accused of trying to kill one of our Harford County Sheriff’s Office correctional deputies accepted a guilty plea,” stated Gahler. “Members of my command staff sat together with Cpl. Vesek to listen to the outcome of this horrific incident. … I continue to be thankful for the deputies who rushed in to save Cpl. Vesek’s life.”
The Aegis was unable to reach Tingler’s defense attorney, Carl Shlaich, for comment.