Harris is charged with 23 felony counts of owning/possessing animal for
fighting, 23 misdemeanor counts of possession of animal fighting paraphernalia,
and 23 summary counts of cruelty to animals.
In June 2007, Harris was apprehended after fleeing police and leading them on a
high-speed chase after shooting at two people in a vehicle with a
.45-caliber Glock in Uniontown's East End (while being a convicted felon in
illegal possession of a firearm).
See: Fayette
man indicted on firearm charges February 26, 2008 (As confirmed
by highbeam.com, the date for the article is wrong on the triblive.com
link. This error probably stems from the changeover from the
pittsburghlive.com to the triblive.com domain.)
Mahoney carried with him to federal court letters of support written on
official letterhead by Uniontown Mayor Edward R. Fike, then-Fayette County
Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky, and South Union Township Supervisor Robert
Shiffbauer.
See the letters here.
U.S. District Judge
Gustave Diamond last month denied bail for Harris, ruling that there was
"no condition or combination of conditions that will assure the safety of
others or the community" if he were released.
However, what Zemba's story did not include was a link to the sentencing
memorandum where Harris' defense attorney made this claim. Appended to
the sentencing memorandum was a host of character witness letters. In
addition to the aforementioned letters written by public officials on official
letterhead, there were letters written by clergy, heart-rending letters written
by Harris' daughters, and letters written by a coterie of Mahoney-affiliated
individuals.
Thus, in the warped worldview of Mahoney's "proven leadership,"
Edward Harris equals George Bailey.
For those of us with a more realistic worldview, more recently, according to
the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Edward
Harris was indicted by a grand jury on federal firearms charges on March 29,
2017.
"Edward
Harris, age 58, a resident of Uniontown, Pennsylvania was indicted by a grand
jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on March 29, 2017, and charged with
possessing:
·
an UZI submachine gun with a partially obliterated serial
number;
·
a magazine with thirty-one (31) Winchester 9mm cartridges;
·
fifty (50) PMC 9mm caliber full metal jacket ammunition;
·
forty-four (44) .38 caliber ammunition and
·
thirty-two (32) Winchester 9mm cartridges.
Chief Magistrate Judge Susan E. Schwab arraigned Harris on April
4, 2017, and determined he should be detained pending trial. The Honorable John
E. Jones, III will preside over Harris’ case, and he has scheduled jury
selection and trial for June 5, 2017."
In
light of the local dog fighting and federal firearms charges Edward Harris now
faces, Mahoney's "proven leadership" of using the power of his office
back in 2008 to do a favor for his childhood friend and former employee (who,
Mahoney assured the community, had turned over a new leaf) has been revealed to
be nothing more than rabidly poor judgment and an endangerment to the
community.
In a Thursday, November 1, 2018 paid political ad in interview format on WMBS,
Mahoney was asked by interviewer Phil Michael whether he was ashamed of his
support for Harris and whether he would do it again.
Mahoney replied that he was not ashamed of anything he had done while in
office, that he would do it again, and that he could not be held responsible if
a person he helped re-offended.
Left unsaid by Mahoney was that he bears tremendous responsibility because he
used the power of his political office and the political offices of others to
support the release and leniency in sentencing of a violent, convicted drug
dealer illegally in possession of a firearm who shot at two people with a
.45-caliber Glock in Uniontown's East End, who is currently up on local
animal-fighting charges, and who has re-offended and has been indicted by
federal authorities in the Department of Justice's "Operation Gun Grabber"
for being in illegal possession of ammunition and an UZI submachine gun with a
partially obliterated serial number.
Electors beware!
On November 6, Mahoney's rabidly poor judgment could come back to bite you.