Lawsuit accuses police of raiding and trashing women’s home and not saying why
Updated Jan 06, 2021;
WILLIAMSPORT Two women have filed a federal lawsuit accusing police of raiding and trashing their Williamsport home in September, then not charging them or giving them a reason.
Libby Williams on behalf of herself and her 10-year-old son along with Rocellus Carter made the accusation in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. Middle District Court against Lycoming County detective Tyson Havens and 20 unnamed officers.
The lawsuit says that at about 5:30 a.m. Sept. 29, police in fatigues kicked in the front door of their Linn Street home, threw a flash grenade and stormed into the house with weapons drawn and throwing more flash grenades.
Pro-Trump teen’s civil rights lawsuit against Pa. school district ends with confidential deal
Updated Dec 29, 2020;
A confidential resolution has ended a federal civil rights lawsuit by a Pennsylvania high school student who claimed she was suspended for wearing a face mask and a t-shirt bearing a pro-Trump slogans to class.
Morgan Earnest, a sophomore, filed that case against Mifflin County School District in U.S. Middle District Court in late October, about two weeks before the presidential election that was won by Democrat Joe Biden.
The 15-year-old Lewistown girl said school officials told her she was violating a district clothing policy, adopted just weeks earlier, that barred articles of clothing “which contain political speech or symbolize a particular political viewpoint, including but not limited to confederate flags and swastikas, as well as BLM logos or phrases associated with that movement.”
Who, in their right mind, saw it coming?
After a relatively quiet, rather “normal” first quarter, we all learned of a “new normal” that would reshape just about every aspect of daily life for those lucky enough survive the global pandemic known as COVID-19.
But first a little happiness arrived before the sorrow.
Following the New Year’s celebrations and promise to commit to resolutions, the first baby of the year was born at UPMC Susquehanna.
The baby arrived shortly before 5 a.m. Jan. 2. The story, aptly written by veteran newspaper man Philip A. Holmes, the lead police and fire reporter for the Sun-Gazette, described how Dusty Harkey was 37 weeks pregnant when she walked into the Williamsport Regional Medical Center’s Birthplace.
Pa. couple accused of racking up $3K credit card bills using IDs from stolen mail
Updated Dec 19, 2020;
WILLIAMSPORT A Columbia County couple has been accused of stealing mail and using personal identification information found inside to obtain credit cards they used to buy items worth more than $3,000.
Ernest and Teresa Stonebraker of Berwick also are accused of keeping a ledger containing Social Security, addresses and dates of birth of more than 70 Columbia County residents.
The two were arraigned Friday in U.S. Middle District Court on charges contained in a 21-count indictment.
Stonebraker, 32, was detained by Magistrate Judge William I. Arbuckle III, who cited his history of drug abuse and a revocation of supervision in a criminal case in Columbia County. His wife, 41, was released but with travel restrictions.
Pa. man charged with using 9-year-old girl to produce child pornography
Updated Dec 16, 2020;
WILLIAMSPORT – A Snyder County man accused of producing child pornography is facing a 15-year mandatory minimum sentence if convicted.
Richard J. Krouse Jr., 55, of Beavertown, was arraigned Wednesday in U.S. Middle District Court on a charge of the production of child pornography.
Krouse is accused of taking sexually explicit pictures of a 9-year-old girl and making them available on the Internet.
The federal indictment is an outgrowth of a state police investigation that led to charges in Snyder County on which Krouse is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.