District justice arrested
Centerville District Justice William Pelkey was taken into custody early Friday after being spotted driving erratically by Pennsylvania State Police. According to state police at Carlisle, Pelkey was pulled over on Interstate 81 in South Newton Township, Cumberland County, at 2:26 a.m. Upon being stopped, Pelkey exhibited signs of being intoxicated, according to a state police news release, and was taken into custody.
District Justice Harold Bender’s office in Shippensburg will be handling the case, but an office employee Monday said the paperwork on the case had not yet been received and no hearing date has been scheduled.
Pelkey, 62, could not be reached for comment. An employee in his office said he was off on a planned vacation and that he would not be in the office for some time. She could not say when Pelkey planned to return from the vacation.
Washington County Common Pleas Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca, who is president judge of the Court of Judicial Discipline, said there has been no action taken against Pelkey locally.
“I haven’t received any official notification of anything,” O’Dell Seneca said. “I’m not doing anything until I get official notification.”
O’Dell Seneca said that if the news accounts she has read are accurate, the matter most likely will never come before her, since the Court of Judicial Discipline generally handles cases involving felonies, not misdemeanors such as driving under the influence.
If there is to be any investigation into the central Pennsylvania incident locally, it would be conducted by the Judicial Conduct Board, O’Dell Seneca said, but most likely nothing would be done until after Pelkey’s regular court appearance in Cumberland County.
“We will allow the criminal justice system to do its job,” O’Dell Seneca said.
The Office of District Justice William Pelkey, Magisterial District Number 27-3-03, encompasses the areas of California, West Brownsville, Coal Center, Daisytown, Smallwood, Granville, Crescent Heights, Blainesburg, Walkertown, Whitehall, Centerville, Long Branch, East Bethlehem, Richeyville, Vesta, Fredericktown, Ten Mile, Vestaburg and Packrall’s Bay.