Bloom shop owner taken into custody during FBI raid

BLOOMSBURG -- Paul C. Chomiak, the owner two downtown shops, was taken into custody on drug charges during a morning raid Thursday at his East Fifth Street home by FBI agents and local drug task force members, authorities said. Chomiak, 47, was one of several people expected to be named as defendants both here and out of state as part of a broad indictment alleging illegal sales of incense products containing synthetic marijuana, as well as bath salts.

Molester wants out of prison

BLOOMSBURG -- Dale Hutchings, the former school crossing guard sentenced to 460 years in prison for molesting children, wants out of the state penitentiary, or at least a new trial. He says his court-appointed lawyer didn't do enough to help him. He will be back in Columbia County court on Oct. 30, four years after he pleaded guilty to 36 of 1,389 crimes against children. Hutchings, now 66, had used his job near the schools, plus volunteer positions as a sports coach and Berwick High band booster, to cultivate victims.

UPDATE: Missing woman found

BERWICK -- Police officers found a missing 71-year-old woman who'd been showing sings of confusion or possible dementia and wandered off from an East Front Street home late Friday night, family members say. Judy Patterson was found by borough officers who were searching along the embankment along Canal Road late Sunday morning, family said. Patterson has been staying with her daughter, Neta Hartig, at 132 East Front St., while the family gets Patterson medical attention to find out what's been causing her recent confusion, Hartig said.

Confused woman missing after wandering away from home

BERWICK -- A 71-year-old woman who'd been showing sings of confusion or possible dementia wandered off from an East Front Street home late Friday night and had not been seen since, family members say. Judy Patterson has been staying with her daughter, Neta Hartig, at 132 East Front St., while the family gets Patterson medical attention to find out what's been causing her recent confusion, Hartig said. Hartig awoke around 9 a.m. Saturday to find her mother missing, police said.

Manhunt ends in capture (W/ PHOTOS)

BERWICK -- A man carried out two carjackings and one attempted carjacking over the course of 18 hours in Berwick, police say. They captured Noah Frank Bomboy, 31, in Beach Haven after launching a massive manhunt following the third crime that shut down Route 11 north of the borough. Bomboy's alleged crime spree began Thursday night, when he got into a car in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy on Market Street and waited for two women to get in. He carjacked them, forcing them to drive to ATMs to withdraw money, police said. He fled after one of the women escaped.

Arson suspect captured with lighter, fluid

DANVILLE -- A Danville man doused the steps of an apartment building with lighter fluid Wednesday night and set it ablaze with nine people inside. Jeffery Lynn Shearer, 64, of 218 Mill St., had a lighter in his hand and an open can of lighter fluid in his back pocket when police caught him coming out of the building at 12 Pine St., said police. Shearer had been arguing with one of the tenants in the building around 10:30 p.m. and soaked the carpeted steps with fluid before igniting it, said police. A resident stomped out the flames while others called 9-1-1, said police.

Woman flown to hospital after wreck

BLOOMSBURG -- A Benton woman was taken to the hospital by helicopter after suffering multiple seizures following a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Central and Fifth Street Hollow roads. Suncha Rhone, 52, of Old Tioga Turnpike, was headed north on Central Road when she attempted to make a left turn onto Fifth Street Hollow Road in her green 2010 Volkswagon Beetle around 11:45 a.m., said Scott Township officer Jon Yaskiewicz.

Water company to top $20M on new plant

BLOOMSBURG - United Water plans to spend more than $20 million to build a new water treatment plant that should keep working through a flood, it announced on Wednesday. The company plans to buy the Irondale Inn property across the road from its current plant on Irondale Road and construct a new plant there, said Nancy Trushell, director of engineering for United Water.

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