Probation for Amish mom who didn’t report abuse
Her husband has pleaded guilty
An Amish woman in Clearfield County was fined Tuesday and sentenced to probation for not protecting four of her daughters from being molested by her husband.
Sarah Schmucker, 52, pleaded guilty in September to four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of children. Her husband, Wallace Schmucker, 55, pleaded guilty to molesting four of his daughters over the course of a dozen years.
Mrs. Schmucker admitted to police she knew her husband was molesting their daughters but did not report it. She and her husband agreed at one point they would “pray that he could control himself in the future.” At another point, she told a daughter that if her father attempted to molest her again, she was to tell the church elders, according to the arrest affidavit.
The case was one of numerous ones documented by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in its recent series “Coverings,” on the growing outcry about cases of sexual abuse among Amish, Mennonite and related groups.
Common Pleas President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced Mrs. Schmucker to three years of probation on each count, to be served concurrently.
Chip Bell, Clearfield County’s court administrator, said Mrs. Schmucker was also fined $100 for each count, plus court costs.
Mr. Schmucker is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 10 on charges including aggravated indecent assault of someone under 16, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and indecent exposure.
The case arose after the couple’s Amish bishop reported the allegations to the state’s ChildLine child abuse hotline last year, according to the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, which prosecuted the case.
Mr. Bell said the maximum sentence for a first -class misdemeanor is five years’ incarceration and a $10,000 fine for each count.
In Mrs. Schmucker’s case, she had no prior criminal history, and standard-range sentencing guidelines called for probation to up to nine months’ incarceration.
Mrs. Schmucker’s attorney, Joseph Ryan, did not return a request for comment.