A COUPLE OF COMMON PLEAS QUICKIES...

There was very little worth reporting on this past week in Common Pleas Court, but there were two very interesting incidents that took place...

At around 13:30 Tuesday afternoon, a woman in her 20's was spotted laying on a bench at Gay and Church Streets adjacent to the Court House. This wouldn't be too newsworthy except for the fact that (1) the woman was wearing a slip as opposed to a dress, (2) she was positioned in a way that an unsavory male might have, shall we say, tried to take advantage of her, and (3) she was unresponsive despite attempts by several people to wake her up. Hence, a couple calls to 9-1-1 later, no fewer than four sheriff's deputies and WCPD P/O David Frantz arrived on scene while GFAC and Medic 91 were dispatched to assist the victim. EMT's were able to revive the woman, who appeared to be intoxicated either on alcohol, drugs, or both and clearly had no idea where she was or where her kids were. The woman was transported by GFAC to Chester County Hospital; there's no word as to whether her nomination for "Mother of the Year" has been rescinded...

Meanwhile, in matters inside the Court House, the lone case of local interest was heard in front of Judge Riley on Thursday morning. Chad Allen Sprenkle, 35, of Birdsboro, Berks County, pled guilty to one count of Invasion of Privacy/Criminal Attempt following an incident at the Chester County Book Company at the West Goshen Shopping Center on February 19. On that day, Sprenkle was doing construction work for a contractor when he was discovered in a room adjacent to a women's restroom. According to the criminal complaint, Sprenkle was spotted bending over to look through a hole into the restroom in what could be described as voyeruism at its worst. Sprenkle admitted that he was a sex addict and had commited his crime to satisfy urges that most rational persons would consider perverted.

As part of a plea agreement, he was sentenced to 2 years probation, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and a sex offender's evaluation, was barred from the store's property, and ordered to allow the probation department access to computers at his home or at any other location he would have access to a computer. (CP-15-CR-0001799-2007)

Meanwhile, a scheduled violation of probation hearing involving a real "winner" from Exton was continued until July 27 due to the alleged violator's inability to obtain counsel. It's too bad the hearing was continued, because this particular defendant's track record makes for some interesting fodder. However, since the matter was continued, I'm going to hold off on the particulars for now...

Now that the 4th of July holiday has passed, next week at Common Pleas Court should bring some very interesting cases, including a defendant who has treated the court system like a revolving door since the Reagan administration. That and a few other cases will be brought up over the course of the next week...