Jersey Shore man charged with child endangerment, other charges

A Jersey Shore man faces charges of child endangerment and reckless endangerment after he allegedly assaulted his child and threatened violence against the child’s mother on Oct. 27, Lycoming Regional Police said.

After laying their 19-month-old child down for a nap, the alleged victim asked Seth R. Reese, 23, of 690 South Broad St., Jersey Shore, if he would be willing to get up and take care of the child if she ran to the grocery store, to which he agreed.

However, video footage from the child’s baby monitor viewed by the alleged victim while at the store allegedly showed Reese yelling at the child to “shut the “expletive” up,” an affidavit said.

Reese is then seen allegedly picking the child up from under his armpits and tossing him, causing the child to strike his head on his crib, according to court documents.

Arriving home, the alleged victim found the child standing in the hallway crying and screaming, at which point she told Reese to never touch the child again.

Reese then swung his fist towards her as she was still holding the child, stopping short of hitting her, authorities said.

After placing the youth back in his crib, Reese charged at her, stopping only once she punched him, the alleged victim told authorities.

Apprehended by police, Reese stated that he “did pick up his son and kind of pushed him into the crib,” court documents said.

Arraigned by District Judge Denise Dieter on an additional charge of harassment, Reese waived his preliminary hearing and was released on $35,000 bail.

‘I do not want to make the news,’ said city man charged with arson after own cabin catches fire

Matthew Jon Wagner, 34, of 631 Dunkleberger Road, has been hit with two counts of arson after Lycoming Regional Police say he failed to report a fire at his cabin, 397 Bougainville Road.

Wagner told authorities that he was burning brush along the river bank on Wednesday, Sept. 4, when he decided to detach a roof from the property and burn it, an affidavit said.

He stated that he had a garden hose nearby in case the fire got out of hand and had been spraying the ground around the fire.

When he noticed smoke coming from the corner of the cabin, he attempted to put it out using the garden hose, he allegedly told fire officials.

“I was nearly dying because of the smoke,” he said to police, adding that he was “hacking up a lung,” an affidavit said.

Wagner attempted to put out the fire until around 6 p.m. when he left without reporting the fire, according to court documents.

He returned to the property at 8 p.m. that same night and twice the following day to run water on the cabin and ensure the fire was out, he told officials, according to an affidavit.

Wagner did not visit the property on Friday, and only became aware of the fire after he was alerted by a neighbor, he allegedly told authorities.

Asked why he did not report the fire, he allegedly stated that he didn’t think it was a big deal and didn’t want to get in trouble.

“All I was thinking in my head is I do not want to make the news,” he said, according to court documents.

Wagner was arraigned on the charges by District Judge Denise Dieter.

He failed to appear for a preliminary hearing and a bench warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest.