By BRETT HAMBRIGHT
It was a case of a local cop becoming the criminal.
Eighteen years ago, Jack O. Edmundson Jr. — now charged with
homicide in western Pennsylvania — raided the Willow Street property of a
suspected marijuana grower.
Edmundson and other detectives found what they were looking
for — numerous marijuana plants and drug-packaging paraphernalia.
Edmundson, while later perusing the suspected dealer's
assets, made another find — 200 platinum coins in a safe deposit box.
He took 20 of them for himself, according to police reports.
An East Hempfield Township coin dealer later told police he
bought 10 of the coins for $3,670.
Edmundson, booted off the force, eventually was sentenced to
1 to 2 years in Lancaster County Prison for theft. He served 10 months and four
days, prison officials said Friday.
Lancaster city Mayor Rick Gray, a former defense attorney
who represented the Willow Street marijuana grower, said Edmundson had a
reputation even before the charges against him became public.
"He wasn't held in high esteem," Gray said Friday
morning. "Most police officers tell you something and you can take it to
the bank. Edmundson's reputation was that he was otherwise. He dealt with
things the way he felt he had to."
Now, more than 12 years after being paroled, Edmundson, 43,
is facing a murder charge in western Pennsylvania. Indiana County investigators
allege Edmundson shot and killed 62-year-old Frank Petro on Tuesday inside
Petro's sportsman's store.
Investigators said the killing might have been part of an
extortion plot. Edmundson is accused of extorting more than $130,000 from the
victim while posing as an undercover police officer, according to the
Associated Press.
Alan Goldberg, a county defense attorney who also
represented the Willow Street grower, couldn't recollect Friday all the
specifics about that case.
But he remembered Edmundson's reputation.
"When he was with the Lancaster County Drug Task Force,
his veracity always seemed to be in question," Goldberg said. "He was
very proactive. Most on the defense bar always questioned his reports."
After being released from Lancaster County Prison on Sept.
24, 2001, Edmundson left the area. He was recently living in Saltsburg, a
Pittsburgh-area town with a population of 873.
Prior to becoming a Lancaster County Drug Task Force
detective, he worked part-time as a Quarryville police officer, according to
newspaper records.
Quarryville police Chief Kenneth Work, who joined that force
in 2001, said Friday he never heard mention of Edmundson's name prior to this
week.
Gray, former president of the Lancaster Bar Association,
said the name was known among defense lawyers.
"Police officers certainly develop reputations as being
straight-ahead people and factual," Gray said. "He wasn't highly
respected by the defense bar.
"Police officers are human beings. ... it's rare when
they go this far astray."
Lancaster County President Judge Joseph Madenspacher was
district attorney here when Edmundson joined the Drug Task Force in the
mid-1990's.
"He was fairly young," Madenspacher said Friday.
"In retrospect, it might have been a mistake."
Initially, Edmundson's boss heard no complaints.
"My recollection is he was fine. I didn't hear
anything," Madenspacher said.
Madenspacher, however, placed Edmundson on administrative
leave "when we had good evidence this (coin theft) occurred."
Edmundson didn't follow the order.
"He broke administrative leave by going out on a
raid," Madenspacher said. "I remember I told the head of the Task
Force, 'I want his resignation on my desk tomorrow morning.' "
"I found out after the fact that other (defendants)
were complaining to their lawyers about him stealing stuff," Madenspacher
said.
One of those allegations — that Edmundson had stolen
valuable phone cards during a 1995 arrest in Paradise — went to court.
Edmundson was sentenced jointly for both thefts, according
to court records.
