Jersey Shore man charged with child endangerment, other charges

A Jersey Shore man faces charges of child endangerment and reckless endangerment after he allegedly assaulted his child and threatened violence against the child’s mother on Oct. 27, Lycoming Regional Police said.

After putting her 19-month-old child down for a nap, the alleged victim asked Seth R. Reese, 23, of 690 South Broad St., Jersey Shore, if he would be willing to get up and to take care of the baby if she ran off to the grocery store, which he agreed to.

However, video footage from the child’s baby monitor seen by the alleged victim while at the store allegedly showed Reese yelling at the child to “close”expletive“above”, an affidavit said.

Reese is then seen picking up the child from under his armpits and throwing him, causing the child to hit his head on his crib, according to court documents.

Arriving home, the alleged victim found the child sitting in the hallway crying and screaming, at which point she told Reese to never touch the child again.

Reese then swung his fist at her, while she was still holding the child, without hitting her, authorities said.

After putting the youngster back in his crib, Reese charged at her, stopping only once she punched him, the alleged victim told authorities.

Caught by the police, Reese stated that he “She took her son and kind of pushed him into the crib” court documents said.

Arraigned by District Judge Denise Dieter on an additional charge of harassment, Reese waived his preliminary hearing and was released on $35,000 bail.

“I don’t want to make the news,” a city accused of arson said after his own cabin caught fire

Matthew Jon Wagner, 34, of 631 Dunkleberger Road, was hit with two arson charges after Lycoming Regional Police said he failed to report a fire at his cabin, 397 Bougainville Road.

Wagner told authorities he was burning brush along the riverbank on Wednesday, Sept. 4, when he decided to tear a roof off the property and burn it, an affidavit states.

He stated that he had a garden hose nearby in case the fire got out of hand and sprayed the ground around the fire.

When he noticed smoke coming from the corner of the cabin, he tried to put it out using a garden hose, he allegedly told firefighters.

“We almost die from the smoke” he told police, adding that he is “rupturing a lung”, an affidavit said.

Wagner tried to put out the fire until about 6 p.m., when he left without reporting the fire, according to court documents.

He returned to the property at 8 p.m. that night and twice the next day to run water on the cabin and make sure the fire was out, he told officials, according to an affidavit.

Wagner did not visit the property Friday and only learned of the fire after being alerted by a neighbor, he allegedly told authorities.

When asked why he didn’t report the fire, he allegedly stated that he didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t want to get into trouble.

“All I could think in my head was that I don’t want to be on the news” he said, according to court documents.

Wagner was arraigned on the charges by District Judge Denise Dieter.

He failed to appear at a preliminary hearing and a warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest.