Woman jailed after attempted purse snatching
Jacolia Walker, 40, of 848 W. Fourth St., has been arrested on charges of trying to steal another woman’s purse while the victim was waiting to catch a bus at West Fourth and Campbell streets about 9 a.m. on July 9, city police alleged.
The attempted purse snatching was witnessed by a police officer, who intervened and took Walker into custody, police said. During the ordeal, the victim was “pulled to the ground,” it was stated in an affidavit.
Charged with attempted robbery, attempted theft and receiving stolen property, Walker waived her preliminary hearing last week before District Judge Christian Frey and remains jailed in lieu of $20,000 bail
Two women face riot-related charges
Rashonda Mack, 26, of 509 Rural Ave., and Dominique Jett, 37, of 507 Rural Ave., both face numerous charges following a disturbance inside the Brandon Cafe, 410 Washington Blvd., about 10:30 p.m. on July 31, city police said.
The two have been charged with riot, possession of an instrument of crime and simple assault while Mack faces additional charges of terroristic threats and criminal mischief, and Jett faces one additional count of disorderly conduct, police said.
The two, along with three other women, entered the bar and attacked two female patrons, police alleged, adding that one victim suffered “a black eye and scratches on her face while the other sustained a large bruise on an arm,” it was stated in affidavit.
Mack attempted “to deploy a pocket knife she had on her,” but she was quickly disarmed by another patron, police alleged. “Jett brought with her a soup can contained in a sack that she allegedly planned to use as a weapon,” it was alleged in a criminal complaint.
After Mack and Jett and the three other women were all evicted from the establishment, “Mack walked around the bar, waiting for the victims to exit. Surveillance video showed Mack pounding on a side door, attempting to get inside,” police said in an affidavit. Mack is also seeing taking a firearm out of her waistband and “pointing it towards the building before stuffing in back in the waistband,” police said in the document.
Police allege Mack slashed one of the tires on one of victim’s parked cars, causing it to go flat. Police also said Mack posted on social media alleged threats of assaulting the two victims.
Mack and Jett were recently arranged before District Judge Aaron Biichle and released on $50,000 bail each.
New charges lodged against prison inmate
Bryanna Gomez-Vanwyk, 31, an inmate at the state Correctional Institution at Muncy, has been charged with felony assault by a prisoner and simple assault after she attacked another female inmate at the prison on Route 405 in Clinton Township on May 18, state police alleged.
Gomez-Vanwyk allegedly swung what was called a “lock-a-sock” at the woman, striking her in the upper torso and arms, police said. The victim also suffered head injuries that required “eight staples” to close, police. Arraigned before District Judge Kirsten Gardner, Gomez-Vanwyk has since waived her preliminary hearing and remains incarcerated in lieu of $50,000 bail. She is currently serving a five to 10-year sentence after being convicted of aggravated assault resulting in serious bodily injury in Montgomery County, according to a prison spokeswoman. She began her state sentence on June 1.
South Side man faces more charges in assault case
Additional charges have been filed against Gregory Gunsallus, 40, of 217 E. Mountain Ave., South Williamsport, stemming from a brutal assault in which a woman was “strangled” multiple times, cutting off her breathing for 10 to 15 seconds in a Hughesville apartment on July 26, according to state police.
Already charged with strangulation and simple assault, Gunsallus now faces charges of terroristic threats and false imprisonment from the same incident after new evidence came to light, according to investigators.
Following a preliminary hearing last week, Judge Gardner held Gunsallus on all the offenses. He remains free on $35,000 bail.
City man charged with resisting arrest
Following a preliminary hearing before Biichle, Q Augustus Drummond, 36, 810 Packer St., was held for court on city police charges, of resisting arrest, obstructing the administration of law and disorderly conduct. The charges stem from an incident in which he refused to identify himself shoved two police officers off his front porch on Jan.31, it was alleged in an affidavit.
Police were there to investigate a report of a woman screaming inside his home, the court document stated. There was no further mention if the officers located anyone else inside the property. Drummond is free on $25,000 bail.
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