By Brett Hambright
Intelligencer Journal/New Era
LANCASTER, Pa. — A local constable is charged with arresting and serving warrants on the wrong woman, then receiving payment for the job.
Paul E. Castline Jr., a Lancaster Township resident, arrested a county courthouse employee on Dec. 15 for allegedly having several unpaid parking tickets, according to investigators.
The woman was handcuffed and taken to the city police station, where the arresting constables realized they had made a mistake.
The fugitive they were seeking was a woman of the same name, but 28 years younger than the woman they took into custody.
After realizing the mix-up, Castline still had the victim fill out paperwork pertaining to 11 unpaid parking tickets that she was not responsible for, according to a police affidavit.
Investigators allege he gave the victim bad advice.
“It would work out the best if she would plead not guilty,” Castline told the victim, according to an affidavit. “The warrants could get straightened out later if it wasn’t her.”
Castline, 35, then filed paperwork so he would get paid, according to the affidavit. On Jan. 20, he was issued a $317.50 check for the work, and he cashed the check five days later.
Constables are paid a per-warrant fee. They are not compensated on an hourly basis.
Dennis Arnold, a county detective, charged Castline last month with two first-degree misdemeanors.
Castline, however, is still working as a constable at a local district judge’s office, according to a spokesperson with the county controller’s office.
According to county election records, Castline was elected constable in East Donegal Township as a write-in candidate in the 2009 general election.
State constables are elected to six-year terms and are supervised by the president judge of the county in which they are elected. That means that any decision to discipline Castline must come from President Judge Joseph C. Madenspacher.
The president judge was unavailable for comment.
Upon election, candidates must complete a written exam and training courses to become a constable.
Castline is certified as a constable, with authorization to carry a weapon through the end of this year, according to a state database.
Alan Goldberg, the lawyer representing Castline, declined Thursday to comment on the case.
The police affidavit, written by Arnold, outlines the alleged crimes this way:
On Dec. 15, Castline and another constable confronted Edna Colon, a courthouse employee, about seven warrants they believed were issued against her. She was handcuffed and taken to the police station, then to District Judge Bruce Roth’s office on North Queen Street.
The woman adamantly denied having warrants, showing her driver’s license and producing a Social Security number.
The constables eventually became aware the 55-year-old woman had done nothing wrong.
Castline did not fill out any paperwork regarding the warrants. However, he came back to Colon with 11 different warrants from a different district judge. She also was not responsible for those warrants, which were for the other woman named Edna Colon.
At Castline’s request, the woman filled out paperwork, pleading not guilty to the violations. She was released.
Castline later claimed the warrants were successfully served and was paid. The other constable did not request payment.
Castline told investigators in March that he believed he served the warrants for which he was paid, according to the affidavit.
Copyright 2011 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.