A former Tyrone School District Police Chief now accused of sexually assaulting a student is scheduled to stand trial on charges that he attempted to run down the victim\u2019s father in February.
\nFollowing a preliminary hearing for 40-year-old Mark Frailey of Spruce Creek, District Magistrate Kenneth Garman felt county prosecutor Dave Gorman showed enough evidence to send misdemeanor charges of recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and harrasment into the Blair County Court of Common Pleas.
\nPrior to the hearing, as Frailey waited for things to get under way, members of the alleged victim\u2019s family were led into the courtroom, including the young girl with whom Frailey is accused of engaging in an inappropriate sexual relationship. Frailey, seated at the defense table, turned and established eye contact with the young girl \u2014 a sustained glance which was returned and held for several seconds.
\nThe related sex case is pending in Huntingdon County Court.
\nWednesday\u2019s scheduled 1 p.m. hearing got going shortly after 3 p.m., as Frailey\u2019s defense council, Altoona Attorney Thomas Dickey, was delayed due to a required appearance in Blair County Court. Dickey apologized to Garman, stating he had asked Blair County Judge Jolene Kopriva for a continuance in the Blair County matter but his request was denied.
\nWhen things finally got rolling, Dickey started by soliciting another continuance, citing the fact that there was no court reporter. The defense attorney said testimony offered at the proceedings would be \u201cvital\u201d in building a case for his client, and he would need assurances an accurate transcript would be available.
\nGorman submitted that the county would provide a recording device to document the testimony. Dickey expressed concern that testimony would be lost if a proper court reporter was not present.
\n\u201cI have a schedule, too,\u201d said District Magistrate Garman, directing his comments to Dickey. \u201cI have a life. I\u2019m getting tired of this.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve continued these proceedings twice already. The district attorney has assured me that testimony will be recorded and the defense will be given a copy. That\u2019s good enough for me \u2014 we\u2019re going to move ahead with this.\u201d
\nDA Gorman first called the alleged victim, who outlined the events of the morning of Feb. 21. He stated he and his 14-year-old daughter \u2014 the younger sister of the alleged victim in the related sex case \u2014 were leaving his Tyrone Township home at roughly 11:30 a.m. to go have breakfast. As they pulled from the driveway they saw Frailey driving toward them, heading down what is a dead-end street.
\nThe man said when they saw Frailey, he stopped his truck, turned around and followed Frailey, who had driven his truck to the end of the dead-end street, turned and was coming toward the victim\u2019s vehicle once again. The man explained he stopped his truck along the road, at which time he got out of his truck and confronted Frailey. He said his daughter remained in the truck.
\n\u201cI asked him what he was doing,\u201d the man said. \u201cI didn\u2019t understand why he was there.\u201d
\nAccording to the alleged victim, Frailey said he \u201chad business up here.\u201d
\n\u201cI told him we\u2019d let the police deal with this,\u201d the man said, then testified that he stepped in front of Frailey\u2019s truck to keep him at the location.
\n\u201cWhere was your daughter when all this was going on?\u201d Dickey asked the witness.
\n\u201cShe was out of the truck standing along the road a this point,\u201d the man returned.
\n\u201cDid you ask this 14-year-old girl to stand in front of Mr. Frailey\u2019s truck to keep him from leaving while you called the police?\u201d Dickey queried.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d the man replied.
\nThe alleged victim said Frailey tried numerous times to get around him, but he would not move from in front of the Frailey vehicle. Then, the man said, Frailey \u201cput it in gear and hit it,\u201d going around him and leaving the scene. He told the court he literally had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by Frailey\u2019s truck.
\nBoth parties then headed to the Tyrone Police Department, according to the witness.
\nThe man said he remained calm throughout the exchange. Others who offered testimony painted a very different picture.
\nThe alleged victim\u2019s 14-year-old daughter was next called to the stand. While her account of the early parts of the incident held true to her father\u2019s statements, as her testimony unfolded, her version began to fork.
\n\u201cWho first noticed Mr. Frailey, you or your father?\u201d Dickey asked the girl.
\n\u201cI did,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cDid your father slam on the brakes when you pointed Mr. Frailey out?\u201d Dickey returned.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d the girl answered.
\n\u201cSo, your father was angry,\u201d the attorney said.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d she said.
\nThe girl testified, after her father slammed on his brakes, he didn\u2019t calmly turn his truck around and then pull off to the side of the road. Instead, she testified he put his truck in reverse, turned around in the street, moved toward Frailey and stopped his truck diagonally across the street, blocking Frailey\u2019s path.
\n\u201cDid your father yell anything like, \u2018be a man, get out of the truck\u2019 at Mr. Frailey?\u201d Dickey questioned.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t remember,\u201d the girl replied.
\n\u201cDid you notice if Mr. Frailey was on his cell phone?\u201d Dickey asked the girl.
\n\u201cYes he was,\u201d she answered.
\n\u201cDid your father at any time tell you to stand in front of Mr. Frailey\u2019s truck while he phoned the police?\u201d Dickey questioned.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d she responded. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want Frailey to leave.\u201d
\nThe final witness called was Frailey\u2019s mother, Dorothy Kline, with whom Frailey was speaking on the cell phone during the February exchange.
\n\u201cDid you hear anyone on the other end of the phone yelling at your son?\u201d Dickey asked.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d she responded.
\n\u201cWhat did you hear?\u201d he queried.
\n\u201cSomeone was yelling, \u2018be a man, get out of the truck,\u201d\u2019 she said.
\nIt was Dickey\u2019s intent to illustrate that the alleged victim was the aggressor on the morning of Feb. 21. The attorney said the man blocked Frailey\u2019s path, verbally assaulted him and then put his own daughter\u2019s life at risk by telling her to stand in front of a moving vehicle.
\n\u201cIf anyone is guilty of reckless endangerment, it\u2019s this man,\u201d Dickey said, referring to the alleged victim. \u201cI ask that these charges be dismissed.\u201d
\nDespite the compelling testimony, Gorman said the matter would proceed to arraignment. DA Gorman said this will more than likely be waived and a Blair County trial date will be set.
\nFrailey faces charges of corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful use of a computer in the related sex case. Last November, Frailey initially denied having sexual contact with the then 16-year-old juvenile \u2014 the older daughter of the alleged victim in Wednesday\u2019s case \u2014 but later recanted, stating the activity was \u201cconsensual.\u201d
\nFrailey is being housed at Huntingdon County Prison. His bail was revoked last month after this latest arrest. Huntingdon County DA Robert Stewart III said Frailey could face the sex charges sometime in May.
\n\u201cLegally, the next step will be his formal arraignment and after that, a jury trial,\u201d said Gorman this morning. \u201cI can\u2019t see what, if any, pre-trial motions can be filed by Mr. Dickey (Thomas, Frailey\u2019s attorney). He can be creative as the next guy as far as filing motions, but I just can\u2019t see any being filed. I think a jury trial will be the next thing we see in this case.\u201d
\nNow, Frailey faces two jury trials.
\nHe is also charged with three felony counts of endangering the welfare of children, unlawful use of a computer and three charges of corruption of minors in connection with a 16-year-old Tyrone High School female student. Those charges were filed by Huntingdon-based state police late last year, and after Frailey violated a court-ordered Protection From Abuse Order for contacting the sexual misconduct victim by phone, he entered into a \u201cno contest\u201d plea agreement for 12 days incarceration in exchange for waiving the charges.
\nGorman said the Huntingdon case is scheduled to go to trial sometime in April or May, and that will have an impact on when the endangerment case will be heard in Blair County.
\n\u201cWe really can\u2019t be sure when it will go,\u201d said Gorman.
\nThe investigation into the sexual misconduct case began last August when the 16-year-old\u2019s mother became suspicious of her daughter\u2019s activities with Frailey. Frailey coached the girl on the school\u2019s softball team and also instructed a group known as the Police Explorers and Students Against Drunk Driving.
\nPolice investigations revealed Frailey admitting to having sexual intercourse with the girl on three occassions, and search warrants turned up numerous e-mail and instant messages from Frailey to the victim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Tyrone School District Police Chief now accused of sexually assaulting a student is scheduled to stand trial on charges that he attempted to run down the victim\u2019s father in February. Following a preliminary hearing for 40-year-old Mark Frailey of Spruce Creek, District Magistrate Kenneth Garman felt county prosecutor Dave Gorman showed enough evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44883\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}