Post by WaTcHeR on Apr 19, 2006 10:22:48 GMT -5
Officer Christopher Young
04/18/2006 - An investigation that state police say started with a mother's discovery of sexual encounters noted in her 15-year-old daughter's diary ended Tuesday with the arrest of a Plainfield Township police officer.
The officer, Christopher S. Young, 28, of 585 Batts Switch Road, Plainfield, was charged with statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and three other felonies, plus related offenses.
State police say Young's relationship with the girl lasted from May 7 to Aug. 9 and involved at least a half-dozen incidents. None happened while Young was on duty, police said.
Young, a township police officer for about five years, was released on $200,000 unsecured bail by District Judge Adrianne Masut and ordered to stay away from the girl and her family.
He left Masut's Wind Gap office through a back door and was unavailable for comment. His father and wife, who wiped tears from her eyes during the arraignment, were seated in the front row of the district courtroom.
Gary Asteak, an Easton lawyer representing Young, dismissed the girl's allegations as fantasy.
''She's a troubled youngster from a dysfunctional family,'' Asteak said outside Masut's office. ''From what I understand, she made false accusations of paternity against several people, and one of them may have been Chris [Young].''
Asteak said the girl stalked Young for several months and repeatedly phoned him and sent him text messages. Asteak said Young's wife told the girl to stop bothering her husband.
State police at Belfast, who filed the charges against Young, said he has been placed on inactive status, pending suspension. Young, who previously worked as a police officer in Lebanon, N.J., is the Plainfield department's canine officer.
The case against Young is one of two investigations involving police officers in the Slate Belt.
Bangor police have an ongoing internal probe of one of their officers, said borough Police Chief Glenn Kerrigan. He declined to give details of the investigation, other than to say it is nearing an end.
Plainfield officials and Police Chief Dean Ceraul declined to comment on the charges against Young, which state police say involve a girl who was 14 at the start of the relationship and 15 when it ended.
State police began investigating Sept. 1, the day the girl's mother found diary entries, Trooper Paul Hulbert says in an arrest affidavit.
The mother took her daughter to the Belfast barracks, where she was interviewed, Hulbert says. During the interview, the girl told investigators she had intercourse with the officer three times and oral sex with him four times, Hulbert says.
The arrest papers outline how the alleged encounters were arranged over cell phones and through text messages.
Phone records reveal 41 calls were made from Young's phone to the girl, Hulbert says. The girl's phone records indicate 24 calls were made from her phone to Young and that 99 text messages were sent to the officer.
State police said Young would call the girl on ''numerous occasions after he was finished with his normal 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift.''
Last May, the girl told police, Young drove her to the Wind Gap Giant supermarket to buy marshmallows, according to the affidavit. On the way home, the girl said, he pulled off Sullivan Trail into the parking lot at Star Gas and asked for oral sex.
On another occasion, the girl said, Young picked her up in front of her house at 2 a.m. and they drove to a development near her home where they parked and had intercourse, the affidavit says.
Once, police said, Young drove the girl to Blue Valley Lanes bowling alley, where he offered her $300 in exchange for intercourse. She refused, police said.
On another day, the girl told investigators, Young drove her to the lot at Slate Belt Kidney Treatment Center, where they had intercourse, according to the affidavit. The girl also told police Young once drove her to Fulmer's Farm, where she and Young had oral sex and intercourse in Young's car.
Besides statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, Young is charged with aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility, all felonies; and indecent assault and corruption of minors, both misdemeanors.