A Tyrone attorney is facing civil proceedings in Blair County stemming from a sexual assault that occurred at a Coalport, Clearfield County residence, in April 2000.
\nIn February, James Bigelow, 65, entered guilty pleas to two counts of summary disorderly conduct in the Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas and was sentenced to serve six-months\u2019 incarceration at the county jail, suspended on the condition that he successfully complete six-months of county-monitored probation. He was originally charged with indecent assault and harassment and stalking.
\nAccording to the 47-year-old victim, who now resides in Altoona, her aunt retained Bigelow\u2019s legal services in regards to power of attorney. She said Bigelow contacted her to finalize a single document that would change power of attorney and wanted to bring it to her home to give it to her.
\n\u201cHe always seemed like the grandfather-type to me,\u201d said the victim. \u201cI met with him a few times prior to this and spoke with him on the phone. I trusted him and he didn\u2019t give me any reason not to.
\n\u201cBut I still thought it was a little odd that he wanted to come all the way from his office in Altoona to Coalport, but he said he had other business to do in the county.\u201d
\nShe further stated that Bigelow arrived at her home and told her he didn\u2019t get the document dictated in time.
\n\u201cI was in the process of selling my home at that time and he said he wanted to see inside it because he had never seen an A-frame before,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I left him in.\u201d
\nShe said after about a half hour, she told him she was expecting company and asked him to leave.
\n\u201cHe started out the back door, but then turned and he was all over me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was holding on to the bathroom door and he was kissing me and putting his hands down my sweatpants. I didn\u2019t feel like there was anything I could do to get him off me.\u201d
\nShe said she was finally able to get him to leave with a promise that she would call him the next day, but after leaving through the back door, he again returned and continued the assault.
\n\u201cAfter I finally got him to leave, I locked the door. I didn\u2019t want him to get back in,\u201d she said.
\nShe said she wasn\u2019t going to contact authorities concerning the incident, but after speaking with her husband the next day, decided to contact state police in Clearfield.
\nShe said following the incident, Bigelow attempted to contact her several times in an attempt to drop the charges. She said he wanted to pay for a \u201cfew\u201d sessions of counseling for her.
\n\u201cI was appalled,\u201d she said.
\nShe also said she drafted a letter for Bigelow stating she would drop the charges if he would pay her $80,000.
\n\u201cNow, his attorney (Thomas Dickey) is using that against me,\u201d she said. \u201c He\u2019s (Dickey) is claiming bribery and extortion and I\u2019m just trying to get a payday out of this. That\u2019s crazy. I was sexually assaulted and he shouldn\u2019t be able to get away with that.\u201d
\nDickey did not immediately return phone calls to The Daily Herald.
\nAccording to the woman\u2019s attorney, Dan Kraut of Pittsburgh, the civil proceedings are moving at a slow pace, and only a few motions have been heard, all in Clearfield County.
\n\u201cThe case hasn\u2019t been transferred out of Blair County,\u201d said Kraut. \u201cBut all of the motions so far have been heard in front of (President Judge John K. Jr.) Reilly in Clearfield. There\u2019s conflicts here because Mr. Bigelow practices law in Blair County, so I\u2019m assuming most of the motions and argument will be held up in Clearfield.\u201d
\nAccording to Kraut, his criminal complaint seeks monetary reimbursement for psychological damages suffered by his client.
\n\u201cWe want a jury to hear this,\u201d said Kraut. \u201cThey would be the ones to decide the amount.\u201d
\nAccording to a spokesperson at the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Mr. Bigelow is continuing to practice law and no further action has been taken against him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Tyrone attorney is facing civil proceedings in Blair County stemming from a sexual assault that occurred at a Coalport, Clearfield County residence, in April 2000. In February, James Bigelow, 65, entered guilty pleas to two counts of summary disorderly conduct in the Clearfield County Court of Common Pleas and was sentenced to serve six-months\u2019 […]<\/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-48035","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\/48035","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=48035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}