Tuesday, January 13, 2004

 

Across Pennsylvania ...

From the Connellsville Daily Courier: Witness testifies in firefighter's trial

A former Isabella firefighter testified Monday that he pleaded with a member of the fire department's leadership not to set fire to the department's social hall.
Steven Dugan is charged with mail fraud related to two 2002 arsons that destroyed the department's century-old social hall in what federal prosecutors say was a scheme to collect insurance money.


From the Reading Eagle: Mother helps police arrest online sex offender

A Laureldale mother posing as her 12-year-old daughter on the Internet led state police to arrest three men on charges of soliciting sex from children online, prosecutors said Monday. Teri A. Boyer was trying to find a chat room for her daughter, whose name was not released, when she came across men interested in sex with children, police said.

Assistant District Attorney Douglass J. Waltman Jr. said after one defendant pleaded guilty in Berks County Court. Waltman said Boyer notified police about the conversations she had in the chat rooms with the defendants, then continued the correspondence until they were arrested.

John Knox Jr., 34, Wellsville, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday before Judge Thomas G. Parisi to charges of aggravated indecent assault and unlawful use of a computer. Knox admitted to having more than 20 sexually explicit conversations with Boyer, whom he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.


From the Lebanon Daily News: Activists claim bias in jury selections

Two local activists say Lebanon County's jury-selection system is biased against minorities and low-income residents. Luis Arocho of South Lebanon Township and Bill Dumas of Jonestown testified during a joint hearing held by the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus and the state NAACP last week, claiming minorities rarely serve as jurors and residents who earn less than $5,000 annually are excluded from jury pools. County Court Administrator David Wingert said the claims are untrue.

And in nearby Buffalo, N.Y.: Pornography surfing leads to demotion

An Amherst Highway Department employee has been demoted for using his work computer to surf pornography sites on the Internet, and officials said Wednesday they are tightening the rules to prevent further abuses.
The employee was demoted from his $50,000-a-year job after an investigation showed he used a town-owned computer to obtain "inappropriate material" off the Web, sources said

posted by Anne 1/13/2004 05:42:00 AM