WILLIAMSBURG - A Williamsburg man was charged Tuesday with attempting to kill the unborn child of a 17-year-old girl last year.
State police at Hollidaysburg arrested Jonathan Keith Imler Sr. of 303 E. First St., 46, of Williamsburg for attempted criminal homicide and aggravated assault of an unborn child, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, theft by unlawful taking and corruption of minors.
Imler was arraigned and placed in the Blair County Prison in lieu of bail, police said.
Police also filed juvenile petitions against two juveniles connected to the incident.
The juvenile cases will be heard at a later date, Trooper Jeff Petucci said.
After the girl became pregnant with her 16-year-old boyfriend, he, along with a 17-year-old boy and Imler, stole a bottle of ProstaMate - a liquid farmers use to bring cows into heat or abort a calf - and a syringe from Donald Eastep's farm on Clover Creek Road, Huston Township, between March 23 and March 30, 2008, police said.
The criminal complaint states the three men talked about giving the drug to the girl to kill her unborn child.
"The accused mentioned to the juveniles that it wasn't a good idea but did nothing to stop them from doing it," the complaint states.
The 17-year-old boy used the syringe to put one drop of ProstaMate into a Gatorade drink, which the girl drank after her boyfriend brought it to Williamsburg Community High School and gave it to her March 31, 2008, police said.
The 17-year-old told police he had heard that giving her the substance might cause a miscarriage and could have killed the girl.
Police said an FBI laboratory found traces of the drug in the Gatorade.
A phone call to a possible family member of the girl was not returned.
The mother of the girl, who remained anonymous to protect her daughter's identity, talked to the Mirror in April 2008 about the incident.
The mother said her daughter was alerted about the tainted drink hours after ingesting it. She said they called 911 and went by ambulance to Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona Hospital Campus.
She said hospital doctors could not find any conclusive evidence of what effect the substance might have on the girl or her unborn baby.
She said doctors told her that because the substance is a hormone, it wouldn't hurt the girl, but it could have aborted the fetus. In the end, it did not.
According to a Phoenix Scientific Inc. Freedom of Information Act summary, the warning label on ProstaMate reads that a property of the substance is ''readily absorbed through the skin and can cause abortion and/or bronchospasms.''
The label warns that women of child-bearing age, asthmatics and people with respiratory problems should exercise extreme caution when handling the product.
Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Clegg is at 949-7030.
