CRESSON — Criminal charges were withdrawn Friday against an Altoona defense lawyer who had been accused of chaining a woman to a couch in their Cambria County apartment.
Angelique Lynch, who is six-months pregnant, testified that she had consented to be chained for hours to the couch by her boyfriend, Mark Zearfaus, because she didn’t want to go back out on the streets looking for illegal drugs.
Zearfaus, who practices law in several area counties, left the courtroom with Lynch without speaking to news reporters.
Heather Long, first assistant district attorney, said the prosecution could not go forward after the woman testified that the incident had been consensual.
By withdrawing the charges – rather than having District Judge Charity Nileski dismiss them – prosecutors could re-file them if Lynch changes her story again, Long said.
Lynch, 28, now will be charged with making a false report to the police, Trooper John Haydu said after Friday’s hearing.
Zearfaus, 40, of the 100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, Sankertown, was charged by the state police with simple assault, false imprisonment and harassment in the Nov. 7 incident.
Long said that the woman now is seeking placement in a drug treatment center, although her being pregnant makes it difficult for her to get into a treatment program.
Long and Nileski said they advised Lynch of her rights to remain silent and to have an attorney because she could be facing charges based on her testimony. But Lynch said that she wanted to testify.
She said that she and Zearfaus had gotten into an altercation around 10 a.m. on that day when she returned home after staying out all night.
Zearfaus, who is the father of Lynch’s unborn twins, “was upset, and he had a right to be upset. He had picked me up in Altoona (after she called him). I had written some of his checks. I was on drugs and taking money out of the bank,” Lynch said.
The two of them came up with the idea of chaining her inside the apartment because “I didn’t want to be running around and going out and doing the same thing,” she testified.
The two of them went to a hardware store, where Zearfaus bought a 30-foot-long chain, that allowed her to move about the apartment, she testified.
He then left around 10:30, and it wasn’t until seven hours later, around 5:30 p.m., she called out of a window to a neighbor to go for cigarettes because she had “run out of them,” she said.
The neighbor called police later that day, Lynch said.
When Long asked her, “Were you lying then (to the police), or are you lying now,” she insisted that she was testifying truthfully before the magistrate.
With the charges withdrawn, the path apparently is cleared for Zearfaus to be reinstated to his appointed position as one of four conflicts lawyers in Blair County Court.
They represent clients when public defenders have a conflict.
Local News
Charges pulled in chaining arrest
- Local News
-
-
Proposed bill would expand use of traffic-light cameras
Some call it the hand of “big brother,” others are convinced cameras at signal lights would be effective in curbing red-light runners and ultimately saving lives.
-
Minister's trial date set
An issue has been resolved over the report from an examination of a girl allegedly taken by her mother to a Bedford motel to have sex with a traveling minister, clearing the way for a trial.
-
AP: Almost half of new veterans seek disability
America’s newest veterans are filing for disability benefits at a historic rate, claiming to be the most medically and mentally troubled generation of former troops the nation has ever seen.
-
Geistown beginning crime watch program
Residents will patrol Geistown streets in the coming weeks as part of a community watch program.
-
Persons of the Week: Nanty Glo vets will remember fallen comrades
Michael Kurtz, Tom Kasecky and Steve Kasecky will be among members of the Loy A. Douglass Post 3489 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nanty Glo who will be honoring fallen veterans today, Memorial Day.
-
AG candidates face potential conflicts of interest
Both candidates for Pennsylvania attorney general have family ties that could pose a conflict of interest for the one who is elected as the state’s next chief legal officer.
-
Lawmakers: Capitol rallies unpersuasive
Nancy Richey stepped to the podium with a microphone at the Capitol rotunda with the hope that the right people would hear her message.
-
Richland closer to new chief
The search for Richland’s next police chief is winding down.
-
In brief: Thunderstorm downs trees, knocks out power
A late Sunday afternoon thunderstorm brought high winds, hard rain and hail to the Cambria-Somerset region.
- District Deaths May 28, 2012
- More Local News Headlines
-
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
