An Albrightsville man, who was convicted earlier this year of threatening a Carbon County judge and district attorney, was sentenced to a short prison term on Wednesday afternoon.

John Jacob Wasyliw, 52, was sentenced by Senior Judge John Rufe of Bucks County to serve one to 12 months in prison on a charge of terroristic threats followed by two years of probation on charges of harassment.On July 12, Wasyliw was convicted of two counts each of terroristic threats and harassment. He was charged with threatening Judge Joseph J. Matika and District Attorney Jean Engler following a one-day trial. Wasyliw did not testify at the trial.Rufe was assigned the case as the three county judges recused themselves, as did the district attorney’s office.The office of the attorney general prosecuted the case. The charges were filed by state police at the Fern Ridge barracks.Wasyliw told the court, “I apologize to the court and Engler. I had a lot going on in my life.”Defense attorney Michael F. Niznik Jr. said there was no excuse for what his client did, but that Wasyliw cares for his family and his actions the day of the incident were for his family. He asked for a probation sentence.Deputy Attorney General Bernard A. Anderson, who prosecuted the case, argued that a jail term was warranted because Wasyliw threatened three public servants, Matika and Engler, and also Jill Geissinger, a caseworker at the children and youth office.Wasyliw made threats during a call to Geissinger concerning a pending case involving one of his children.Anderson said Engler has been an assistant district attorney and district attorney over a 30-year period of public service and never received such a threat. He said Engler “still looks over her shoulder due to this threat.”Anderson also said Wasyliw’s actions in the case were not “out of character” for him, citing other incidents.He said Wasyliw made allegations of wrongdoing by a neighbor which were investigated by three agencies — state police, the district attorney and the attorney general’s office — and none found any evidence to lead to a prosecution.Rufe said Wasyliw has a “pattern for vindictiveness.”He also said the court was concerned with information contained in a presentence investigation report filed by the adult probation office that said Wasyliw told the intake probation officer he will continue to do what he thinks is right.Rufe said, “He must understand he must stop this type of conduct.”Caseworker threatenedAt the trial Geissinger testified that she received a phone call on June 19, 2015, in the afternoon from Wasyliw. Geissinger said she had been the caseworker for Wasyliw concerning issues with his son and daughter since 2009. In that phone call Geissinger said Wasyliw was yelling, screaming and using curse words concerning an investigation into an alleged criminal offense committed against his daughter.Geissinger said Wasyliw was agitated about the handling of the investigation and felt it was taking too long.She added that Wasyliw said at the beginning of the phone call that he was calling because he was upset about a letter he received indicating a suspect in his daughter’s case was being paroled from jail.The suspect was in jail on another case and was not scheduled for parole until September.She also testified that during the call, while she was speaking with his wife, Tammy Scott, she heard a gunshot.Wasyliw returned to the phone and admitted firing a weapon. She also said Wasyliw said he had “20 rounds” and would use them against those involved in the investigation.Geissinger said she knew he meant Engler and Matika because of prior conversations with the defendant.She said she felt Engler was threatened because of the criminal investigation involving Wasyliw’s daughter and Matika because he had handled court proceedings involving Wasyliw’s son in court.Geissinger said she notified Engler of the call.Engler testified she became aware of the allegation concerning Wasyliw’s daughter and it was assigned to assistant District Attorney Joseph Perilli.She said after the call from Geissinger, she became concerned about the threats and felt that a conflict of interest occurred. She turned the case over to the state attorney general’s office.She added that the AG’s office recently decided not to prosecute the matter.Defendant statementTrooper Eric T. Porpiglia, prosecutor in the case, testified he received the case concerning the threats on that Friday.A few days later, on Monday, he said Wasyliw appeared at the barracks unannounced and wanted to speak to him.Porpiglia said Wasyliw said he heard he was going to be arrested and wanted to tell his side of the story.He said Wasyliw admitted making the phone call to Geissinger and firing a gun in the air during the call. Porpiglia said Wasyliw told him he never meant to harm anyone; he only wanted to get the attention of those involved in the investigation of his daughter’s case.Porpiglia said Wasyliw said he “was intending to cause people to do their job.”Porpiglia said Wasyliw mentioned Engler and Matika.Rufe imposed the one- to 12-month term on each threats count with the terms running concurrently.He imposed one year probation on the harassment counts, running concurrent to each other but consecutive to the threats counts.He must also get a mental health evaluation, pay court costs of about $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on probation and parole.was granted work-release privileges.He began the jail term immediately.