Man accused of posing as Perry Twp. supervisor to harass people
A Mount Morris man is accused of repeatedly harassing workers at a property in Perry Township over several months while posing as a township supervisor.
Richard Long, 45, received additional charges for allegedly assaulting a police officer after being brought to court.
Supervisors in the Greene County township said there had been other similar complaints about Long, who had never worked for the township or had authority to represent them, charging documents stated.
Rebecca Elkin-Young told police Long had harassed her, her husband and her workers starting in June, shortly after she bought property on Mount Morris Road.
In the first incident, Long asked people working at the building about sewage permits and told them to leave or stop working “before anything happened,” Elkin-Young said in a statement emailed to police.
In early August and on Sept. 5, Long, driving a white truck, stopped by twice, according to the complaint. Both times he asked people working at the site what kind of business was coming in and once “why anyone would want to open a business here,” police said.
When he left his number, Elkin-Young forwarded it to the township secretary, who called the police, court paperwork said.
Regional police told Elkin-Young to call if he showed up again. That happened on Sept. 26, the complaint said, when Long was spotted taking photos of the property in a red car with no license plate.
Long also had an existing arrest warrant for theft and associated charges out of Washington County, the affidavit of probable cause said.
When he was brought to District Judge David Balint’s courtroom to be taken into custody, Long ran around a table to prevent the officer from making an arrest, according to the affidavit.
After the officer grabbed his arm, Long attempted to punch him in the face, the complaint said. The officer tried to put Long onto the floor to subdue him, charging documents stated; in the process, “both of them fell onto the courtroom table and it flipped upside-down onto the floor.”
Long was eventually subdued after trying to hit the officer in the face with his elbow, the complaint said.
Charging documents said officers found a bi-fold knife on Long in the courtroom. He was also charged with institutional vandalism for damaging the table and for dripping blood onto the carpet; Long suffered bleeding from his right earlobe and a contusion and swelling on the right side of his forehead, the complaint said.
He faces charges of impersonating a public official and criminal trespass in the first case. He was next charged with aggravated assault, institutional vandalism, resisting arrest, simple assault, disorderly conduct and possession of a dangerous weapon in a courtroom.
Long’s bond was set at $15,000. He was unable to post bond and is confined at the Greene County jail.
His preliminary hearing on the courtroom charges is set for Oct. 14. No date has been set for the earlier case.