EBENSBURG —
Judge Norman Krumenacker’s hope of having an Iraq War veteran serve time in another county’s prison while continuing to work and get counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder has fallen through.
John Fletcher, 30, a Johnstown area resident who had been living recently in Ridgway, was to have reported Thursday to the Elk County Prison, where he would be on work-release for his job with the Army Corps of Engineers.
However, Fletcher was told this week that he no longer has a job with the corps because he is a convicted felon, his attorney, Lisa Lazzari, said Thursday.
Fletcher was to report to the Cambria County Prison by 6 p.m. Thursday to begin serving two to four years in prison, plus an additional four years probation.
He did report and was in prison Thursday night, a prison official said.
Fletcher is credited for nine months he served before being released on bond.
At issue is whether Fletcher’s counseling for PTSD will continue. The Veterans Administration has said that its counseling programs for vets cease while they are in prison because counseling programs ordinarily are available in correctional facilities.
Krumenacker said that he will permit Fletcher to leave the prison to continue the counseling he has been receiving through the VA.
“That’s key. We can’t just let him go without counseling,” the judge said.
Fletcher said at the time of his sentencing in July that he was in individual and group-therapy sessions for PTSD.
Lazzari, unsure what type of counseling will be available, said she hopes to have Fletcher assessed through the county mental-health program and get him with a counselor.
She also hopes that he can be placed on the inmate work crew, which does community projects throughout the county.
The county prison, while having some mental-health counseling for inmates, does not have a program specifically tailored for PTSD, officials have said.
Fletcher pleaded guilty to robbing an East Taylor Township bank while armed with a knife and calling in bomb threats to divert the police the same day.
He also pleaded guilty to the stalking and simple assault of a former girlfriend and to criminal trespass and conspiracy in the theft of copper wire.
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John Fletcher File Photo/The Tribune-Democrat
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