Councilman accused of child sex assault can't be forced from office

[left-of-center2012]

Kittanning (PA) City Council Vice President David John Croyle, 60, was arrested and charged with felony counts of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, unlawful contact with a minor (a disabled 14-year-old boy), aggravated indecent assault of a person with a mental disability, corruption of minors and related charges.

Croyle is the editor and publisher of the Kittanning Paper and senior pastor at the Family-Life Church on South Jefferson Street in Kittanning. Representatives of the Family-Life Church, Applewold Council either refused or did not return requests for comment.

Also arrested and facing identical charges is Applewold Council President Mark Alan Feeney, 55, who also serves as chief of the East Franklin Township Fire Department and fire marshal for North Buffalo Township. In an emailed statement sent Friday afternoon, North Buffalo Township Solicitor Chuck Pascal said Feeney had been removed from his position as fire marshal.

Kittanning City Council does not have the authority to remove a councilman from office Council President Kim Chiesa said Friday. According to Ronald J. Grutza, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs’ assistant director of government affairs, removing a member of a legislative body is not a power granted to a borough’s council. “Removing someone from office belongs to the court, or by the (state) constitution through the governor, or by impeachment,” he said.

Both men were arraigned on the charges before District Judge James H. Owen on Friday morning and held in the Armstrong County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond each.

https://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/13960133-74/borough-councilmen-accused-of-child-sex-assault-cant-be-forced-from-office

[yortsed snacilbuper]

1. Something Troubling In Kittanning (not my blog)

Last edited Sat Aug 11, 2018, 06:12 PM - Edit history (1)

This morning, just after finishing my usual plate of eggs (scrambled) and my just as usual mug of coffee (no cream, no sugar), I wandered as I usually do on mornings like this to the Tribune-Review's website to check aht the area's one-time solitary conservative editorial page.

Note: now that the one-time left-of-center editorial page of the Post-Gazette has turned darkly Trumpist, we can no longer say that the Trib's editorial page is the "solitary" voice of wingnut conservatism in tahn.

Lucky us.

Charles E. Zimmerman, 25, of Kittanning was charged this month with several misdemeanors following a complaint filed with police by Mark Feeney of Applewold. The former Applewold president and East Franklin fire chief told police that Zimmerman had threatened him several times recently.
I hope you noted presence of the name "Mark Feeney" in the story. So Mr. Zimmerman was accused of stalking Croyle (charges were dropped) and then accused of stalking Mr. Feeney. Guess what? Croyle shows up in that story, with a curious tidbit of information:
“It's crazy,” Feeney said. “I'm not the first person he did this to. It's just a sad situation. It really is.”

The Rev. David Croyle, a Kittanning councilman, in March dropped charges against Zimmerman days before a trial began for criminal trespass, stalking, simple assault and harassment. The charges were related to alleged incidents about a year ago. Croyle, president of Family-Life Media-Com and publisher of the Kittanning Paper, declined to comment about the case.

Croyle had employed Zimmerman and was his landlord at the time charges were filed in 2014.
So a few years ago both Croyle and Feeney were stalked by a one-time employee of the Kittanning Paper and now in 2018 they're both arrested for allegedly assaulting a 14 year old who allegedly met Croyle when the teenager applied for a job at the Kittanning Paper.

Am I the only one who noticed this? I haven't seen that reported yet - that's all I am saying.

http://2politicaljunkies.blogspot.com/2018/08/

[left-of-center2012]

2. Is that your political blog?

[yortsed snacilbuper]

3. Heck no,

I'm not that smart!

[pghdayvoe]

4. Hi!

Actually, it's my blog.

I wrote that.

Dayvoe