Police chief retires after sex videos surface

A Pennsylvania police chief is resigning following allegations of inappropriate conduct on the job, according to a story from KDKA.

Baden Police Chief David Christner has been with the department for 21 years, but he officially retired on Monday, the news outlet said.

The retirement came after alleged sex videos of him taken while he was working surfaced.

Citing unnamed sources, KDKA said that Christner is in uniform and working for the force in these videos, with more than one of them filmed at the Beaver County police station.

“It’s outrageous,” resident Lisa Spak said to the station. “Did he record himself? He was at work. He was our police chief. I’m abhorrent that someone would do that in the police station like that.”

The videos came to light after someone delivered a USB flash drive to a council member, KDKA said. On Oct. 19, Baden’s borough council hired a company to do an internal investigation.

The investigation hasn’t been completed yet, but the borough released a statement Monday confirming that Christner had resigned. His retirement is effective immediately, the site reported.

KDKA said that Christner, who became chief in 2010, will only receive what the collective bargaining agreement allows for a pension.

Neither Christner nor Baden’s mayor or members of the borough council responded to KDKA’s requests for comment. A borough meeting will be held on Wednesday.

11 police recruits struck and injured

A group of 11 law enforcement recruits were mowed by down by a motorist on Wednesday while they were out for a morning run in Southern California.

The incident was reported around 6:20 a.m., The California Highway Patrol told Fox 11. Eleven people were left critically injured.

All of the victims were rushed to the hospital, police said. They all attend the Sheriff’s Training Academy and Regional Services (STARS) Center in Whittier, a training institute for police officers and law enforcement.

A suspect is also in custody and has been hospitalized.

Same-sex marriage bill clears hurdle

The U.S. Senate moved forward on a bill to codify federal recognition of samesex marriages Wednesday, after a bipartisan group of negotiators said they would add measures to bolster religious protections to address concerns from some Republicans.

The 62-37 vote on a procedural move sets up a potential final vote on the legislation later this week with bipartisan support.

The bill would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that the Supreme Court found to be largely unconstitutional in a 2013 decision. It would also codify federal recognition of samesex marriages that are legal in the state where the marriage was performed.

Senate negotiators plan to add language to the bill that would preserve existing religious freedom exemptions for churches and other institutions, which helped garner Republican support.

Ultimately, 12 Republicans voted to advance the bill, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the bill’s primary Republican sponsor.

Probation for man who sneaked into ladies room

A man who lied his way into an elementary school and recorded a teacher in a bathroom stall has been sentenced to five years probation, according to reports from multiple news sites.

Brian Mintmier reached a plea deal on Tuesday on charges in three different cases, KDKA reported.

He has also been ordered to stay in a mental health treatment program until a judge deems him fit for release. He is also not allowed to go anywhere near any school and is to have no contact with any children.

According to TribLive, police said Mintmier arrived at Ramsey Elementary School in Monroeville, Allegheny County, on March 15 and asked someone on staff to allow him to use the restroom.

The staff member, who has since been placed on leave, allowed Mintmier to use the restroom unattended.

Police said he stayed in a bathroom stall for 40 minutes, and placed his cellphone under another stall and photographed a teacher during that time.

A 10-year-old girl in the bathroom saw someone holding a cellphone under her stall and reported it to school staff, TribLive said.

Mintmier was then detained at the school until police arrived. Officers found a box cutter in his pocket and seized his cellphone.

Upon reviewing the phone, police also found video of Mintmier from Feb. 17 in which he was following a 14-year-old girl and then exposed himself in public, TribLive said.

Mintmier pleaded guilty to charges from three different cases, including possession of instruments of crime; possession of weapons on school property; stalking; tampering with evidence; indecent exposure; harassment; and two counts of simple assault for an incident on May 31 involving his mother and stepfather.

In that incident, police charging at his family members with a knife and was “delusional, shouting off incoherently and making up stories.”

Mintmier’s defense attorney, Casey White, told TribLive that he suffers from schizophrenia.

“He wasn’t a predator,” White said. “He was a man who was sick, unmedicated, delusional and under the vicious grips of mental health disease.”

Shell cracker plant begins operation

After years of construction, the energy giant Shell announced Tuesday that its ethane cracker plant in Beaver County has commenced operations.

The plant, which refines natural gas into plastic pellets, is one of the largest of its kind in the country. It is the first major polyethylene manufacturing complex in the Northeastern United States and has a designed output of 1.6 million tons annually, according to Shell.

Shell said the 384-acre cracker plant is strategically located within a 700-mile radius of 70% of the U.S. polyethylene market.

Southwest Pennsylvania has large reserves of natural gas in the Marcellus shale formation to supply the plant.

The company says the plastic pellets produced at the plant can be used in a wide variety of products, such as common household goods, consumer and food packaging, as well as industrial and utility products.

“With great market access, innovative offers and connected infrastructure, Shell Polymers Monaca is well positioned and ready to serve customers with high-quality, competitive products,” said Huibert Vigeveno, Shell downstream director.

It supports 600 jobs at the facility in Potter Township near Monaca, and Allegheny Conference on Community Development CEO Stefani Pashman said she expects the plant to support job growth of up to 11,000 indirect and induced jobs.

Officials believe the cracker plant can lead to an increase in plastic-related manufacturing jobs for the Pittsburgh region.