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LH woman arrested after telling NY man to commit sex acts with infant

A Lock Haven woman was arrested for allegedly telling a New York man to perform sex acts involving an infant and receiving child sex abuse material. Beth Sairs, otherwise known as Beth Young, 41, was arrested by the United States Attorney Jay Clayton, of the Southern District of New York, along with Corey Matthews, 38, of Kent, N.Y. for separate charges related to sexual exploitation of an infant and the receipt and distribution of child pornography. According to a release from Clayton’s office issued this week, Matthews was arrested on May 14 and Saiers was indicted on April ...

Centre County man who posted threats to kill President-elect Trump placed on probation

WILLIAMSPORT — A Centre County man who posted three threats against President-elect Donald Trump just days before his 2025 inauguration has been placed on a one-year probation and fined $500. Jacob Buckley, 23, of Port Matilda, had pleaded guilty in September in U.S. Middle District Court to a charge of threats against the president-elect. This is what he admitted posting on TikTok within hours on Jan. 16, 2025: “I hate MAGA republicans bro on god I’ll kill all of them.” “I’m going to kill Trump.” “Bro we going into a literal oligarchy in 4 days and im going to kill ...

Mother of ex-NHL player sentenced to prison in bankruptcy false-records case

WILLIAMSPORT — A Centre County woman will soon be locked up in federal prison like her husband for falsifying records in a bankruptcy case. U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann on Wednesday gave Christina Johnson, 70, until June 12 to self-surrender and begin serving a 15-month sentence. Her husband, John J. Johnson, II, 73, is serving an 18-month sentence imposed in March on the same charge. They will be in separate prisons. Each also received a year of supervision after release, during which they must perform 30 hours of community service. They are the parents of ...

Howard man jailed for assault of minor

HOWARD — A Howard man was arrested after being accused of having sexual contact with a minor. According to reports from WTAJ, Joshua Scott McCloskey, 24, is facing multiple charges, including involuntary sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years of age, statutory sexual assault and indecent assault for incidents that took place between September 2024 and November 2025. A criminal complaint filed by state police at Rockview stated troopers were called to a Howard Township home on Jan. 2, where the victim said there had been three incidents of various sexual contact by ...

Variety of charges heard by Jersey Shore District Judge

JERSEY SHORE — A number of charges involving Jersey Shore area residents were brought before Lycoming County District Judge Denise Dieter. They include the following: Jersey Shore man charged with child endangerment Lycoming Regional police have charged 36-year-old Rian Merrill, of 1434 Locust St., Jersey Shore, with simple assault, endangering the welfare of children and harassment after he allegedly smacked his 8-year-old son on April 13, 2026, according to court documents. The alleged victim stated that, following baseball practice, Merrill instructed him to complete some house ...