Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

27 people across Pennsylvania have been arrested for a variety of insurance fraud offenses, and one of them is from Brookville. 42-year-old Theresa Clark is accused of lying to her insurance company about the time of a car crash on Interstate 80 after realizing her coverage had lapsed, according to the state attorney general's office. She tried to get the insurance company to pay for more than $8,000 in estimated repairs. A man from Jersey Shore in Lycoming County is charged with 823 counts of workers’ compensation fraud. 35-year-old Adam Worden allegedly operated his business – American Nature care Tree Service – without having workers’ comp insurance as required by law. Read more here . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

HARRISBURG - Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane today announced the arrests of four Pennsylvania men on unrelated charges as part of an ongoing effort to target the online sharing, downloading and distribution of child pornography. Attorney General Kane identified the defendants as: • Lawrence Schichtel Jr., 53, 319 Fuller St., Sayre, Bradford County; • William Mattos, 45, 2076 North Williamson Road, Covington, Tioga County; • Jerry Rhinehart Jr., 29, 690 South Broad St., Apt.15, Jersey Shore, Lycoming County; and • Robert Pillot Jr., 38, 148 Mohawk Drive, Hughesville, Lycoming County. According to the criminal complaints for each of the defendants, agents conducting separate, unrelated online investigations found numerous files containing depictions of children engaged in extremely sexually graphic acts and poses, which they later determined were downloaded and shared from each of the defendant's respective computers. Schichtel Schichtel was arrested on October 16, and char...

A subsidiary of ExxonMobil is being charged for illegally discharging more than 50,000 gallons of toxic waste water from a Marcellus Shale gas well site in Lycoming County. Attorney General Kathleen Kane says XTO Energy of Indiana, PA, transported and stored gas on the site despite not having the proper equipment to safely store or process it after hiring another company to move processing equipment to another well site in West Virginia. The illegal discharge of gas well waste water was discovered on Nov. 16, 2010, when an inspector with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection made an unannounced visit, Kane said in a news release. She said the toxic waste water flowed into and polluted an unnamed tributary of Sugar Run. More than 3,000 tons of contaminated soil had to be excavated and removed from the site. Read more at AttorneyGeneral.gov . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

The State Police Station Commander at Emporium killed in a car crash will be buried this Saturday. Sgt. John LaRose was headed home from work Monday afternoon in Cameron County when his car went out of control on a wet road and collided with an SUV. The driver of that vehicle and his passenger were suffered moderate injuries, but LaRose was pronounced dead at the scene. LaRose was a 23-year veteran of the State Police and graduated from Penn State in 1984. He leaves behind a wife and four children. Viewings will be held in his hometown of Muncy in Lycoming County Friday and Saturday. http://grenoblefuneralhome.com/Obituaries13/JohnLaRose.html . The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Provided by Pennsylvania State Police

The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Scranton, PA – Today, United States Marshal Martin J. Pane announced the successful conclusion of Operation Safety Net III – an initiative designed to verify the addresses of more than 1,300 convicted sex offenders residing in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. This operation is the direct result of The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, signed into law July 27, 2006. The Act commemorated the July 27, 1981 abduction and murder of 6-year old Adam Walsh. It designated the United States Marshals Service (USMS) as the lead federal law enforcement agency charged with assisting jurisdictions in locating and apprehending sex offenders who fail to register, and pursuing convicted sex offenders who cross state lines to avoid their registration requirements. Beginning in February 2012, Deputy U. S. Marshals teamed with the Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law Section as well as state and local police officers to verify Megan’s Law addresses of 1,309 convicted sex offenders li...

A Lycoming County man was charged today by agents from the Attorney General's Environmental Crimes Protection Section with illegally dumping well production water - commonly known as brine. Attorney General Linda Kelly identified the defendant as John Elwood Marsh, 47, 6 Drake Lane, Jersey Shore, Lycoming County. Marsh is a tanker truck driver for Gas Field Specialists, Inc., which is a subcontractor to Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Kelly said that Marsh is responsible for hauling "gas buster tanks," which are tanks used to hold gas well production water (brine) after it is extracted from wells. According to the criminal complaint, on Feb. 1, 2012 Marsh's truck became caught in the mud along a rural road in Clinton County causing his gas buster tank to become stuck in a ditch. In order to lighten the tanks and try and move the trailer from the ditch Marsh allegedly opened a discharge valve on the back of the trailer. The charges state that the valve, which was open ...

The Department of Environmental Protection has fined TerrAqua Resource Management LLC of Williamsport, Lycoming County, $18,500 for a March 2011 hydraulic fracturing, or frack, water spill at the company’s treatment facility in Lycoming County. “This spill of between 800 and 1,000 gallons of frack water was caused by operator error,” DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber said. “Accidents like this can be prevented.” The spill occurred when TerrAqua employees were in the process of filling three frack water storage tanks that overflowed into the containment system. The containment berms were not elevated enough and were too close to the tanks to contain the frack water. A DEP investigation determined that the overflow occurred because the operator was not able to shut off the pump quickly enough after the alarm system displayed that the levels were high. The release was halted by opening valves to other storage tanks, allowing the frack water to flow into them. TerrAqua hired a...

A Port Allegany woman graduated today from the State Police Academy in Hershey. Noelle Schad has been assigned to Troop E, Erie County. Also assigned to Troop E is Joshua White of Ridgway. Bryan Uhl of Kersey has been assigned to Troop F, Montoursville, Lycoming County. Following is the news release from Commonwealth Media Services: Harrisburg – Governor Tom Corbett announced that 131 men and women joined the ranks of the Pennsylvania State Police following their graduation today from the State Police Academy in Hershey. “In years to come, you will look back on this day as the moment you became something bigger than yourselves,” Corbett said. “You join a force with more than a century of history. I salute your willingness to take on this calling. You are that part of government we want.” Corbett spoke at the ceremony, which was held at Central Dauphin High School. Pennsylvania Superior Court President Judge Correale F. Stevens was the principal speaker and Commissioner Frank Noonan of...

Governor Tom Corbett today toured Nu-Weld, Inc., a complete gas well service company in Trout Run, highlighting his commitment to growing the commonwealth’s economy and helping businesses create jobs for hardworking Pennsylvanians. “My budget is a commitment to Pennsylvania’s workers. It supports our future by making sure workers, whether they own their business or work for someone else, have a share in the economy we are looking to build,” said Corbett. Corbett’s proposed budget contains no tax or fee increases and cuts government spending by 3 percent, most of which is done by consolidating programs, targeting inefficiencies and reducing or eliminating discretionary financial grants. The budget refocuses and streamlines the state’s support of free enterprise by supporting programs that will encourage economic growth and job creation, streamlining a multitude of business incentive programs and awarding tax credits as incentives for new and creative ideas to improve business and indust...

Agents from the Attorney General's Child Predator Unit have arrested a Lycoming County man accused of using Internet chat rooms to sexually proposition what he believed was a 13-year old girl, along with sending explicit webcam videos of himself to the "girl." Acting Attorney General Bill Ryan identified the defendant as George William McKay, age 61, of 723 High Street, Williamsport. Ryan said that McKay is accused of using an Internet chat room to approach and sexually proposition an undercover agent from the Child Predator Unit who was using the online profile of a young teen. During their first online communication, McKay allegedly told the "girl" that he was becoming aroused during their online chat and then used his computer webcam to transmit images of his exposed genitalia. According to the criminal complaint, McKay approached the undercover agent a second time, several days later - asking her, "do you want me to lower my cam," and, "do you...

DEP says tests of water downriver from some treatment plants that handle natural gas-drilling wastewater do not show signs of radioactivity. Samples were taken in November and December from several rivers, and DEP said today that all samples showed levels at or below the normal naturally occurring background levels of radioactivity. The sampling stations were installed last fall to monitor the impact of Marcellus Shale gas drilling on water quality. The river testing stations that were evaluated are the Monongahela at Charleroi in Washington County; South Fork Ten Mile Creek in Greene County; Conemaugh in Indiana County; Allegheny at Kennerdell in Venango County; Beaver in Beaver County; Tioga in Tioga County; and the West Branch of the Susquehanna in Lycoming County. http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/newsroom/14287?id=%2016532%20&typeid=1

DEP has fined PGE of Warren nearly $29,000 for the illegal discharge of Airfoam into Pine Creek in Lycoming County last March. The Airfoam is used by natural gas drillers to create a foam that will lift water and drill cuttings to the surface. Airfoam HD is approved by DEP for use by the industry. During the weekend of March 13 and 14, 2010, there was significant rainfall and snow melt that caused residual Airfoam in a Marcellus well bore to migrate to a spring on the hillside creating a white, foamy substance. The spring was not used as a source of drinking water. “PGE responded immediately to this incident and fully cooperated with the department,” said DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber. http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/news_releases/14288

WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection announced today that it has imposed a $34,000 fine on Chief Gathering LLC, of Dallas, Texas—a subsidiary of Chief Oil and Gas—for illegally discharging hydrostatic testing water at a pipeline project in Penn Township, Lycoming County, in August 2010. Chief Gathering builds and operates natural gas pipelines. Hydrostatic tests involve placing water in a natural gas pipeline at the required pressure to ensure there are no leaks before it is placed into service. In conjunction with the enforcement action, Chief agreed to voluntary surrender its discharge permit, and did so early in December. “Chief clearly did not comply with the requirements of the DEP discharge permit that was issued to the company in February 2009,” said DEP North-central Regional Director Nels Taber. DEP’s Water Management Program conducted an investigation on Aug. 12, after Chief notified the department that a hydrostatic water discharge had occurred the pre...

WILLIAMSPORT -- The Department of Environmental Protection is continuing to investigate a large hydraulic fracturing fluid spill at an XTO Energy natural gas well pad in Penn Township, Lycoming County, which was first discovered last week. “This spill was initially estimated at more than 13,000 gallons by the company and has polluted an unnamed tributary to Sugar Run and a spring,” said DEP Northcentral Regional Director Nels Taber. “There are also two private drinking water wells in the vicinity that will be sampled for possible impacts.” A DEP inspector discovered the spill while inspecting the well pad. The inspector found that the bottom valve on a 21,000-gallon fracking fluid tank was open and discharging fluid off the well pad. No one else was present at the pad, which has one producing Marcellus well. The DEP inspector was able to close the valve and XTO Energy officials were immediately contacted about the spill. The company has not provided any explanation for the open valve. ...

Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer Kristoffer Krebs is looking for information about the individual or individuals responsible for the illegal killing and dumping of nine porcupines in Lycoming Township, Lycoming County. On April 5, the Game Commission Northcentral Region Office was contacted by a Lycoming Township employee regarding numerous porcupines that were placed at the recycling bin at the township building on Dauber Road. “Carcasses of nine porcupines were placed in front of the recycling bin sometime over the Easter weekend,” WCO Krebs said. “All of the animals had been shot, and one was still alive at the time of the call. That animal had to be euthanized. “Eight of the carcasses were whole and one was skinned. It is possible that the skinned carcass was utilized for consumption. We would like to request that anyone with information please contact the Northcentral Region Office at 570-398-4744.” Krebs noted...