Bechtelsville man pleads guilty to harassing officers while in custody

NORRISTOWN >> A Berks County man has admitted to harassing a Norristown police officer while he was being detained.

Tony Wardlaw, 38, of the 1300 block of North Reading Avenue in Bechtelsville, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of aggravated harassment by a prisoner in Montgomery County Court in front of Judge Gary S. Silow.

Sentencing on the charges was deferred while Wardlaw enters the Behavioral Health Program. Assistant District Attorney Cara McMenamin said the program is designed for persons with a “serious mental illness.”

Wardlaw was taken into custody by Norristown Police Oct. 2, 2014 at about 2:45 p.m. after they received a report about an intoxicated man in the area of Marshall and George streets. According to the arrest affidavit, Wardlaw was arrested for public drunkenness.

Ward law shouted obscenities at pedestrians while in the patrol car, and spat out the window and inside the car, according to the affidavit. While in holding, he also spat on a police officer.

As an officer was handling a separate arrest in the holding area, Wardlaw became angry and started yelling sexually explicit comments about the officer’s wife and threatening the officer.

“You’re lucky I don’t have a gun on me, I would shot one of y’all like that (expletive) in the Poconos,” Wardlaw allegedly said, according to the affidavit.

Additional harassment and assault charges are set to be dismissed if Wardlaw completes the Behavioral Health Program, court documents state. He could also face a reduced sentence for the felony harassment charge, which carries a maximum possible sentence of three and a half to seven years in prison.

The program launched in Montgomery County in July 2009 in hopes of reducing the recidivism rate among criminals with mental illness. McMenamin said prosecutors, defense attorneys and clinicians work together to decide which defendants are fit for the program, which last a minimum of 18 months and includes intensive therapy, monitoring and speciallytrained probation officers.