Schuylkill County had no shortage of publicized court cases, both at the local and federal levels, involving child molesters, murderers, an elected official accused of fraud, and a man formerly on the lam, Shawn Christy.

Sexual abuse

Through the diligence of the Tamaqua Police Department, four area men were charged with sex crimes involving a 13-year-old boy. All four had contacted the boy through a cellphone dating app called Grindr.

In October, Dale Schimpf, 71, Frackville pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors and indecent exposure. He was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in state prison.

Schimpf was arrested in February 2019. A lifelong music educator, at the time of his arrest he was a band teacher at Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville. After police investigated the incidents involving Schimpf, they arrested three more men: Matthew Delgado, 29, Tamaqua; Charles Raymond Joy, 59, Port Carbon; and Brad Daniel Murphy, 26, Tamaqua. All four were arrested for sex crimes involving the same victim, a 13-year old boy from Tamaqua. The defendants contacted the victim through Grindr.

In October, Delgado withdrew a prior not guilty plea and entered a guilty plea to corruption of minors — sexual acts. Judge James Goodman sentenced him to 9 to 23 months in Schuylkill County Prison. After release, Delgado will be on probation for five years.

In July, Joy pleaded guilty to indecent exposure and indecent assault charges. He was sentenced to three to 23 months on the indecent exposure charge, and three years on probation. He was also sentenced to 3 years on probation on the indecent assault charge, to run concurrently with the other probation term.

All three must comply with Meghan’s Law registration requirements. The fourth defendant, Murphy, is scheduled for a status conference Jan. 19, 2020.

Murders

Robert B. Bailey, 54 is “a cold-blooded killer, who acted with malice, and intended to kill Diane Bailey,” Schuylkill County District Attorney Mike O’Pake said in his closing argument.

About two hours later, the jury agreed, finding Bailey guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, simple assault, possession of instrument of crime and reckless endangerment of another person in the death of his wife, Diane Bailey, 43, on Nov. 26, 2017. Bailey stabbed her 17 times, on the porch steps and sidewalk in front of a home they shared on Lafayette Street in Tamaqua. A first-degree murder charge carries an automatic life sentence.

After nearly 12 hours of deliberations, a Schuylkill County jury found Eric Mumaw, 32, guilty of third-degree murder in the shooting death of David D. Gombert of Beaver Meadows.

Gombert, 27, was shot at Mumaw’s Kline Township home on the morning of Nov. 1, 2016. According to testimony presented during the trial, hostile Facebook posts escalated a rivalry between Mumaw and Gombert. Mumaw’s former girlfriend had become friends with Gombert.

The jury also found Mumaw guilty of lesser charges, including reckless endangerment, prohibited offensive weapons, possessing an instrument of crime, simple and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and abuse of a corpse. Mumaw is scheduled to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 9, 2020.

Elected official

In August, former Schuylkill County Clerk of Court Stephen Lukach, 69, Nesquehoning, entered guilty pleas to one count of mail fraud and one count of falsification of records. His sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Lukach resigned in 2014, after County Controller Christy Joy turned up irregularities in the Clerk of Court’s records from 2012. A federal grand jury indicted him in July 2018 on 20 counts of mail and wire fraud, and manufacturing records to obstruct an investigation. When he was first arraigned, he pleaded not guilty, then in March 2019 he signed a guilty plea agreement.

The maximum penalty Lukach could receive is 40 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Consiglio is prosecuting the case, and Lukach is represented by public defender Leo A. Latella.

Shawn Christy

In October, jurors found McAdoo resident Shawn Christy, 27, guilty on all counts in his federal trial stemming from a 95-day manhunt in summer 2018. Local, state and federal law enforcement personnel had pursued Christy diligently through six states and Canada until capturing him in Ohio in September 2018.

Jurors returned a guilty verdict on 11 charges, including threats against the president, threatening communications, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interstate transport of stolen firearm, possessing a firearm while facing a felony charge, and being a fugitive in possession of a firearm.

The jury also found Christy guilty on a final, twelfth count — being a known felon in possession of a firearm — a short time later. Judge Robert Mariani wanted that count tried separately because it required telling the jury that Christy had previously been convicted of a felony.

Christy claimed that he fled law enforcement because he felt he was a victim of police corruption in Schuylkill County. That case closed in Schuylkill County in December – with Christy sentenced to state prison for 12 to 24 months, with 336 days credit for time served.

The charges had stemmed from a March 2017 fight between Christy and former McAdoo Mayor Stephan Holly. The incident was captured on video outside McAdoo borough hall: Christy swung a stick at Holly during an argument about snow removal.

In late October, a Schuylkill County jury found Christy guilty of simple assault and harassment, and not guilty of aggravated assault. During his sentencing, Christy cursed at Judge Cyrus Palmer Dolbin and had to be physically removed from the courtroom.

Christy is scheduled to be sentenced on the federal charges in February 2020, although no exact date has been set.