UNION TOWNSHIP Part-time officer sentenced for corruption of minors

Darryl Quimby's status as a police officer will be discussed by township supervisors.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A tearful Mary Lou Diaz wanted to make sure the man who held her son at knife- and gunpoint could never again work as a police officer.
"We just want to see some justice. This man's a police officer and he is supposed to be protecting my child. Instead he was abusing his post," Diaz said at the sentencing hearing for suspended Union Township Police Officer Darryl G. Quimby.
Quimby, 31, of McClelland Avenue, a part-time police officer, pleaded guilty in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court to charges of corruption of minors and recklessly endangering another person.
Punishment: He was sentenced Monday to two months in jail, followed by four months' house arrest with electronic monitoring and six months' parole for the charge of corruption of minors; and 231/2 months' probation for the charge of recklessly endangering another person.
Judge J. Craig Cox ordered the sentences be served consecutively.
Union Township Supervisor Kevin Guinaugh said supervisors likely will discuss Quimby's status at their July 19 meeting. Quimby was suspended without pay after his arrest in July 2000, but supervisors were waiting for the outcome of the criminal charges before making any other decisions, Guinaugh said.
Pennsylvania State Police arrested Quimby after Diaz's 19-year-old son, Travis Sallmen, told them an off-duty Quimby forced him into his truck at gunpoint and drove him to the police department, where he took marijuana and alcohol from the police evidence locker.
Quimby threatened to arrest Sallmen and damage his car with a knife if he didn't do what he wanted, state police said. Quimby later put a gun to Sallmen's head and threatened to shoot him, court records said.
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.
Past troubles: Quimby's attorney David Acker said his client has had a long-standing alcohol problem and has undergone inpatient and outpatient treatment. "He's suffered a great deal. He's taken this extremely seriously and he's taken the right steps," Acker told the judge.
Judge Cox decided Quimby's sentences would be served consecutively to give county probation officers more time to monitor Quimby's alcohol problem and ensure it doesn't progress. He also gave Quimby a stern lecture.
"This is a difficult sentence for the court to impose, not because of the length but because you were once a police officer in Lawrence County. What you did brought shame to every police officer who puts on a uniform every day to protect the law. This court sentence will come and go, but I hope that shame stays with you," Cox said.
Matthew Mangino, county district attorney, has said the corruption of minors charges, a first-degree misdemeanor, will keep Quimby from owning a gun, which should prevent him from working as a police officer.
Acker said his client is starting a small business and has asked to be part of the jail work-release program. Acker would not say what type of business Quimby is starting.