NEW CASTLE Officer pleads guilty in deal

Families of the victims agreed to the plea offer, the district attorney said.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A Union Township police officer faces up to two months in county jail and four months under house arrest in a plea agreement with the Lawrence County District Attorney's office.
Darryl Glynn Quimby Jr., 30, of McClelland Road, a part-time officer, pleaded guilty in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court to charges of corruption of minors and recklessly endangering another person.
Pennsylvania State Police arrested Quimby in July after a 19-year-old Union Township man told police that an off-duty Quimby forced him into his truck at gunpoint and drove the man to the police department, where he took marijuana and alcohol from the police evidence locker.
Police report: The two met up with four other people, all younger than 21, and went to an area hunting and fishing club where the group drank the alcohol and smoked marijuana, according to state police.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of simple assault, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, criminal coercion, theft, official oppression and providing liquor to minors.
The proposed, nonbinding plea agreement calls for a sentence of six to 23 1/2 months in jail, which District Attorney Matthew Mangino described as "pretty stiff" for the charges.
"It's at the upper end of the sentence guidelines," he said.
Mangino said the families of the victims agreed with the plea offer made by prosecutors.
"No one is happy when their child is victimized. We can't undo what has been done. After meeting with them they are satisfied," he said.
Career-ending charge: Mangino said the corruption of minors charge, a first-degree misdemeanor and the most serious charge Quimby faced, will prevent him from working as a police officer in the future.
Quimby's attorney, David Acker, said his client was looking to resolve the charges when he agreed to the plea.
"We just thought it was the best thing to do to get on with his life," Acker said.
Acker said Quimby will likely explain his actions involving the 19-year-old man at his sentencing on July 2 before Common Pleas Court Judge Craig Cox.
Quimby, a two-year veteran of the Union Township Police force, has been suspended without pay since his arrest. Supervisors recently hired someone to replace Quimby, but have not taken any action on his status in the department since he was suspended.
Mangino said the fact that Quimby is a police officer will affect his stay at the county jail and likely mean he will be kept under lock-down away from the other prisoners.