Charges involving the sexual assault of a Bradford woman in a
local grocery store bathroom were waived to court Wednesday in
front of Magisterial District Judge Dom Cercone.

Elvis McCartney, 49, of 4D Kiwanis Court, was led into the
courtroom Wednesday morning by an assemblage of four armed police
officers, his social worker, his father, his attorney Assistant
Public Defender Doug Garber and assistant Susan Collins.

McCartney, who Garber said suffers from mental illness, was
extremely agitated even before entering the courtroom, and was
repeatedly swearing and waving his arms around. He was wearing a
red plastic biohazard bag over the pants of his McKean County Jail
uniform, as he had apparently urinated on himself.

McCartney was seated at the defense table, and began swearing
almost immediately as Cercone attempted to explain the process of
waiving a hearing to him. His father spoke to him briefly and
calmed him enough that proceedings could continue.

“You’ll sign these papers and the whole situation will be going
over to the Court of Common Pleas,” Cercone said, explaining that
McCartney had a right to a trial there.

Garber explained to McCartney that he had to sign paperwork to
waive the hearing, and then the matter would be over for the
day.

McCartney asked several times when he could get out of jail.

According to proceedings, Garber is going to seek mental health
treatment for McCartney at Warren State Hospital.

The alleged victim, a young pregnant woman, was briefly in the
courtroom with Assistant District Attorney Scott Klein, who
explained that she needn’t testify because the hearing was being
waived. A crisis counselor accompanied her.

McCartney is charged with attempted rape and involuntary deviate
sexual intercourse, first-degree felonies; terroristic threats, a
first-degree misdemeanor; indecent assault and simple assault, both
second-degree misdemeanors.

At 10 p.m. May 21, an adult female entered Tops Market on Main
Street in Bradford and went to the ladies restroom, located near
the front of the store. When she entered the restroom, she saw a
wheelchair in the handicapped stall, according to court
records.

The woman entered the second stall, which would not properly
lock because the door did not line up correctly, the documents
read. When she was inside the stall, a man slammed the stall door
open and walked in, brandishing a knife, the records read.

While holding the knife near her face, the man forced her to
allow him to perform oral sex on her, according to the records.

While assaulting her, he slapped her several times in the hip
area. When the man was finished, he retrieved the wheelchair from
the handicapped stall and left the restroom, propelling himself in
the wheelchair with his feet instead of his arms, the records read.
He threatened the woman, telling her not to tell anyone.

The woman left the restroom after the man did, found a manager
and reported the incident. Police were notified, and recognized
McCartney from the victim’s description of him, according to the
records.

McCartney remains in jail in lieu of $5,000 cash bail.