SHINGLEHOUSE – The prosecution did not make its case,
Magisterial District Judge Barbara Easton said Monday as she
dismissed all charges against James Boothby, former director of
Potter County Mental Health Mental Retardation Services.

Boothby, who had been suspended with pay in August and then had
resigned his position, had been charged with felony counts of
risking a catastrophe and making terroristic threats after a device
resembling a pipe bomb was found in his office on Sept. 5.

The Potter County Human Services Office building in Roulette was
evacuated, as were some surrounding residences, and bomb squads
from Erie and Harrisburg were called to the scene.

The device, two pieces of pipe about 24 inches long attached to
a battery with wires and tape, turned out to be harmless.

Boothby, 55, testified that he had made the simulated bomb as
part of his duties on the Safety Committee about four years ago,
when it was used in a drill. It had sat on a file cabinet in his
office ever since, he said.

While several workers whose desks were near Boothby’s and other
workers who were often in the area testified that they had never
seen the device there, Human Services Administrator James Kochlan
testified that “Jim’s office was chaotic,” with papers, books and
other materials strewn about over filing cabinets and all other
surfaces.

Melissa Lee, whose desk was in sight of the filing cabinet where
the device was found, told the court she had not seen the pipes
there at any time in the past four years. She also noted that she
did not notice it the morning that it was found by another
co-worker, Mental Health caseworker Rick Kunselman, who was looking
around Boothby’s work station because Boothby was supposed to come
in that day to pick up his personal belongings and return his
laptop and cell phone.

While Kunselman also said he had never seen the device before,
under questioning by defense attorney Walter Stenhach, he admitted
that he’d “never really looked” at the mess on the cabinets and
agreed when Stenhach said “It’s safe to say you were more observant
that day?” (Because Boothby was supposed to come in and clean out
his belongings).

Kunselman said that he thought the bomb was “a prop” and that he
picked it up and handed it to Lee, then decided to report it to
“some management.”

That turned out to be Kochlan, who called Coudersport-based
state police.

By the time Boothby arrived, the building had been evacuated and
he was taken into custody and handcuffed by State Police.

The “bomb” was taken to a nearby ballfield, where bomb squads
fired it with a small charge that would have caused any explosives
in the device to explode.

District Attorney Dawn Fink argued that Boothby must somehow
have entered the building at some time and put the device there
because he was disgruntled over his suspension, which came because
of an unrelated criminal charge of cruelty to animals.

Boothby testified that his retirement after the suspension was
on “amicable” terms and that he was satisfied in that he received
all accumulated sick pay and other benefits that he was entitled
to.

In his questioning, Stenhach brought out that after Boothby was
suspended on Aug. 28, the access code to the building was changed,
and that even if Boothby had obtained the new general access code,
he could not have obtained a second code, known only to four
people, which would allow access after 6 p.m. when the building was
empty.

None of the witnesses who testified said that they had ever seen
Boothby in the building after his suspension or had heard of anyone
who had.

When Stenhach asked lead state police investigator trooper Glenn
Drake if he had found anyone who had seen Boothby there at any time
since his suspension, Drake said that he had been called to
Roulette on his day off and had left two days later for a two-week
training session.

Drake answered that other officers had interviewed Human
Services workers, and “I haven’t read half of the interviews.”

Troopers also testified that they had found duct tape and
electrical tape similar to what was used on the bomb at Boothby’s
residence and at the American Legion, where he is post commander,
but were unable to say whether it was the actual tape that had been
used.

Pieces of pipe similar to the ones on the bomb were also found
at the American Legion, but no direct connection was made. Boothby
had told troopers he made the training device at the Legion.

Drake scoffed at the idea that anyone would make a realistic
looking bomb for training.

But all that was not really to the point, as Stenhach made clear
in his summation: “Judge, he wasn’t there … there is no evidence at
all that he was ever there … and no evidence that it (the bomb)
wasn’t there all the time.”

He also noted that there had been no bomb threat phoned in and
that the “negative evidence” that no one had ever seen him back at
the building after his suspension could not be ignored.

“The access codes were changed to keep him out and that’s what
they did – he never had access to the second code.”

Easton’s decision came quickly; without leaving the courtroom
she ruled there was not probable cause and dismissed all
charges.