EMPORIUM — An Emporium woman was sentenced to serve a lengthy probation term following her entrance of guilty pleas to multiple counts in four cases in Cameron County Court.
Ashley Jo Callaway, 31, will serve an additional four years on probation stemming from the four cases, which include charges of terroristic threats, forgery and harassment. She cannot begin serving this sentence until she has completed a previous sentence stemming from a guilty plea to arson in February.
This past November, Callaway entered an open guilty plea to two felony counts related to arson at her residence on Old West Creek Road in Shippen Township. She was sentenced to serve six to 24 months in a county jail facility, followed by five years of probation.
The new four-year probation term runs consecutively to the arson case, and Callaway will be maintained under some form of supervision, either jail, parole or probation, for a total of eleven years from the time of her arrest last year.
The first two of the newer four cases were filed in March of this year. Callaway entered a guilty plea to one misdemeanor count of making terroristic threats to a female victim. A threatening letter was sent anonymously from a Sizerville Road address. For that incident, she was ordered to serve two years on probation and pay more than $1,500 in restitution to the County of Cameron for costs incurred for DNA testing to determine the letter’s author.
The second case stems from an incident that occurred in October 2017 in which Callaway used the personal information of a female relative to apply for a number of credit cards. The scam was uncovered by a United States Postal Service employee who knew the victim and noticed mail bearing the victim’s name being mailed to another address. Callaway entered a guilty plea to one felony count of forgery and was ordered to serve one year of probation on that count.
The other two cases were filed in June of this year. In one, Callaway stole a check from an elderly gentleman who employed her as a caretaker. Callaway wrote the check out to herself and cashed it at Mountain Laurel Federal Credit Union in Emporium on Feb. 6. She entered a guilty plea to one felony count of forgery and will serve one year of probation, plus pay restitution of $200 to the victim.
In the final case, the same female victim received three threatening letters sent to her while Callaway was incarcerated on the arson charges. The letters were sent Feb. 14, Feb. 22 and Feb. 27. Callaway entered a guilty plea to one misdemeanor count of harassment and was ordered to serve one year of probation on that count, which will run concurrently with the other probation sentences.
Callaway was not fined due to the fact that she is currently incarcerated and owes more than $1,700 in restitution, plus the costs of prosecution and must pay a monthly supervision fee throughout the length of her parole and probation terms.
Callaway is subject to several special conditions of probation. She was ordered to have no direct or indirect contact with her victim. She also must undergo a mental health evaluation and comply with all treatment recommendations.
“You will have a long probation term, and will initially be maintained on parole,” stated President Judge Richard Masson. “Mental health treatment will be a significant part of your being able to be maintained within the community.”
