NORWICH – Michael A. Pierce, 27, of Norwich now has an active warrant for his arrest that was issued on Monday, Aug. 17, 2015, following court proceedings.

Pierce was set to appear in Chenango County Court for arraignment purposes before Judge Frank B. Revoir Jr. on Monday. Pierce failed to appear in court; however, his attorney, Robert Gouldin, was present.

District Attorney Joseph A. McBride was present in court to represent the people.

“I’m not sure where he is. He was in custody of the sheriffs office, released on July 7, 2015, but he was back in custody,” said Gouldin “We’ve gotten no response from him. I am honestly not sure where he is. I have had communication with him while he was in jail, so he does know I am his attorney.”

Pierce was said to have been released from custody of the Sheriff’s Office after a 45-day period in which evidence could not be properly produced due to a backup of lab-work.

“We were waiting on a lab report by grand jury. The lab is backed up due to the amount of heroin there has been lately,” said McBride.

Calls were made from court in an attempt to locate Pierce after not appearing. There was a man with the last name of Pierce in custody who, at the time of court, was doing community service duty in the fairgrounds, and that caused some confusion at the time.

When the Chenango County Correctional Facility was contacted, they confirmed it was the “wrong Pierce.” The facility did have a Pierce in custody, but not the one the court was looking for.