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Blair judge asks Pa. court to reject inmate’s appeals

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge is asking the state Superior Court to reject appeals offered on behalf of Charles M. Frank, an Altoona man at the forefront of a March 2017 assault to forcibly remove tobacco from a fellow inmate’s rectum.

In an opinion being filed with the state court, Judge Wade Kagarise affirmed Frank’s sentence of 23 to 47 years handed down in November and reasons for it.

“Specifically, we indicated that we believe that the crime had a significant impact on the victim and that the defendant was a danger to the community,” Kagarise wrote. “We also pointed out that the serious criminal violations committed in this case were committed while the defendant was an inmate in prison and therefore under intense supervision.”

Frank, at the end of a jury trial in April 2018, was found guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal conspiracy to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault, assault by prisoner, aggravated indecent assault, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.

He and five additional Blair County Prison inmates were involved in a plot to get plastic-wrapped tobacco from a fellow inmate’s rectum. Trial testimony indicated that an inmate hid the tobacco in his rectum to keep it from being confiscated while being moved within the prison.

Witnesses indicated that the victim inmate was lured into a cell where Frank donned rubber gloves to reach inside the inmate for the tobacco. Testimony also indicated that toothbrushes were used in the unsuccessful attempt.

In appealing Frank’s convictions, defense attorney Helen Stolinas claimed that verdicts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault “shock the conscious” and warrant a new trial.

She also challenged the verdicts by referencing efforts the inmate, who put the plastic-wrapped tobacco into his body, made on his own to get the tobacco out.

Kagarise, however, rejected those challenges.

“We do not find that these verdicts were against the weight of the evidence,” the judge wrote. “At trial, there was substantial testimony … revealing that in addition to placing the foreign object in the victim’s anus, (Frank) also used his fingers to penetrate the victim’s anus.”

Stolinas also challenged the length of Frank’s sentence. She described the 23 to 47 years as excessive because Frank’s offenses were based on the same incident. She also pointed out that Frank’s history includes no violent or criminal offenses.

Kagarise, however, said Frank’s criminal history includes “serious” offenses. He also said it spans 25 years and during sentencing, mentioned that it included six arrests as a juvenile and 34 arrests as an adult.

“We did not believe and do not believe that the defendant is capable of being rehabilitated,” Kagarise wrote.

Stolinas also challenged Frank’s sentence by suggesting that it was wrongly based on or influenced by a report prepared by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board.

While an evaluation was ordered and completed, Kagarise said the district attorney’s office advised him that it wasn’t seeking any further action. Subsequently, Kagarise said he deemed the report irrelevant and didn’t use it in pronouncing Frank’s sentence.

“In fact,” Kagarise said, “this court has no recollection of ever reviewing the report.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.

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