by peter e. bortner
The Cressona woman who had been scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday in Schuylkill County Court to stealing more than $21,000 from a nursing home resident did not do so, since the prosecutor did not appear for the hearing.
Jennifer L. Ferrier, 39, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud and was to have admitted those crimes before Judge Charles M. Miller.
However, no one from the state attorney general's office appeared for the hearing, and Miller refused to accept the plea. The judge postponed the hearing, but did not set a specific date for it.
Deputy Attorney General Clarke H. Madden has been assigned to prosecute the case.
Miller refused to allow Assistant District Attorney Thomas J. "Tim" Pellish to stand in for the attorney general's office, since the latter is handling the case.
State police at Schuylkill Haven have charged Ferrier, a home health care aide, with obtaining the debit card of Lois Fells, 81, a resident of Luther Ridge Nursing Home, Pottsville, and using it at various county stores to get cash and buy gasoline, gifts and groceries from October 2012 through Jan. 6.
Ferrier had been hired to transport Fells to and from appointments and to help with shopping and other errands, police said.
Fells' bank notified her on Jan. 6 that she had insufficient funds in her account to cover the transactions, police said. Fells' card was used at Sheetz stores in Pottsville and Schuylkill Haven, the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Saint Clair, Giant grocery stores and Exxon gasoline stations, as well as numerous automatic teller machines along Route 61, according to police.
The state attorney general's office is handling the matter because the defendant's father is Magisterial District Judge James R. Ferrier, and District Attorney Karen Byrnes-Noon believed it would be a conflict of interest to have any members of her office, some of whom appear in front of the judge on a regular basis, work on the case.
Assistant Public Defender Andrea L. Thompson, Jennifer Ferrier's lawyer, declined to comment Wednesday on the case.
No one from the attorney general's office was available Wednesday for comment on the case. Jennifer L. Ferrier
· Age: 39
· Residence: Cressona
· Charges: Theft, receiving stolen property and access device fraud
