Posted on 08/18/2011 5:35:24 PM PDT by freespirited
A Pennsylvania man and his son were arrested Thursday on charges of harassing Sarah Palin's family and lawyers in a case a prosecutor said went beyond "merely creepy to truly threatening."
Craig Christy, 47, and his son, Shawn Christy, 19, were placed under arrest at the FBI office in Allentown. The pair was indicted by a federal grand jury in Alaska on Wednesday.
They are accused of harassing members of the former Alaska governor's family as well as her attorneys and employees of the law firm. Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, is also a possible presidential candidate.
The Christy family, in turn, accuses Palin and a daughter of sexting with the teen-aged Christy.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Arnold Rapoport ruled Thursday that Craig Christy and his son, Shawn Christy, will be held in custody and sent to Alaska to face the charges.
The pair made hundreds of threatening calls, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney John Gallagher.
"There's a level of obsession here that elevates the conduct from merely creepy to truly threatening," Gallagher said in arguing for their detention.
Marc Fisher, Shawn Christy's attorney, argued his client did not pose a danger to the Palin family.
"There's no indication of any threat, no indication of any violence," he said.
Rapoport declined a request by Fisher and Michael Brunnabend, Craig Christy's lawyer, that the father and son remain free and report to Alaska themselves.
A magistrate in Alaska had previously issued restraining orders against both men.
Karen Christy, Craig Christy's wife and Shawn's mother, said in an interview Thursday that the family has been persecuted by the Palins and law enforcement officials for more than two years.
They contend Sarah Palin and her daughter, Willow, sent sexually oriented text messages to the teen in 2009.
"All of these things have been happening to my family, and the police and the FBI and the federal agents don't seem to (care) ... about going after Sarah Palin because she's a big political figure," Karen Christy said.
She denied the family is a threat to Sarah Palin, and said Craig and Shawn made the recent phone calls to try to locate an original copy of a letter threatening Willow Palin that was submitted as evidence against Shawn earlier this year. Shawn Christy said he had no involvement in the letter.
"We're obsessed because we're just trying to get the truth out there, and we're just trying to defend ourselves in the only way we can," Karen Christy said.
Palin has said she feared Karen and Craig Christy because they wrongly believe she had a sexting relationship with their son two years ago. Recordings of telephone calls made to Palin's attorney by Shawn Christy are peppered with profanity-laced tirades and vows to continue calling nonstop.
Craig and Shawn were invited by the FBI for an interview Thursday morning and then taken into custody.
The family lives in McAdoo, Pennsylvania.
Palin's attorney, John Tiemessen, did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Sounds like a family of real nutjobs. Saying Willow was sexting ads a whole other level of creepy to it.
These people need the book thrown at them. Enough is enough.
Didn’t they just convict a Father Son team that were sending disgusting and violent messages to her? Geez. What is wrong with these dirt bags?
I’m a bit confused. I thought a PA court had already tried the two and put them on probabtion for X number of years. Have they violated the probation?
I wonder if they truly believe that or just made it up as part of their defense.
I’m guessing it was thrown in both as part of the defense and a legal means of continuing the harassment.
Not the kind of publicity that our Keystone state likes, but still deserving of a Pennsylvania ping.
Once again, we have to turn to the foreign press to get news about what's really happening here. MSM: cover up, cover up, cover up.
Here’s a good picture of him.
http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2011/04/shawn-christy-responds-to-charges-that.html
Here’s the mother’s Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002343126505&sk=wall
And the father’s:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001670534857&ref=ffl
How much will it take to shut you up? ;>)
Perhaps this is why we have to wait until September?
Sarah is living in their heads also.
I want to hear Sarah’s side.
She doesn’t have a side. This moron imagined the whole thing and his parents are just as delusional as he is.
http://www.adn.com/2011/05/09/v-printer/1853578/judge-extends-restraining-order.html
The Dummies must be heavy on the sex thing. A local
NBC station was going to have an interview with some scum that is running an ad soliciting women to say they have had sex with Perry.
The Dums are not just in the gutter, they have slithered into the sewer.
It’s on Forbes, the Huffington Post, AP, etc..
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7703236.html
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