Ex-mayor’s assault trial continued

Former Osceola Mills leader allegedly shot at two in parking lot

CLEARFIELD -- The trial for the former mayor of Osceola Mills who is accused of shooting at two men in a parking lot was canceled Thursday.

In March 2022, Ida Reams, 52, of Osceola Mills, was charged with two counts each of simple assault, terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person as well as DUI in relation to an incident when she allegedly shot at two men playing Pokemon Go in an Osceola Mills parking lot on March 14, 2022.

In January 2023, Reams was before President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to plead guilty to misdemeanor terroristic threats and two counts of recklessly endangering another person in exchange for a time-served plea of seven days to one year in the county jail. This was rejected.

Reams was before him again in March to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts each of terroristic threats and recklessly endangering another person with a sentence of four months' home detention. That was also rejected, and the case was scheduled for jury selection.

District Attorney Ryan Sayers then filed a motion to recuse Ammerman from the case because he was "forcing the case to trial." That was eventually withdrawn.

At that time, Ammerman had complained about delays in this and other cases with "cases going stale."

The two-day trial was scheduled to start on Thursday, but Sayers asked for a continuance because one of the victims who had been subpoenaed did not appear for court. The investigating trooper had not been able to locate the second victim since his release from state prison, he said.

Ammerman asked why that was not mentioned before and Sayers explained he received an email from state police regarding the situation in September. The second victim has mental health issues and allegedly said he wasn't going back to jail and would instead commit "suicide by cop."

Sayers stated he felt they could proceed with the trial with one of the victims testifying, but not with both unavailable. He noted that neither victim was cooperating with the prosecution going back as far as the preliminary hearing.

When asked how the defendant felt, attorney Joshua Maines asked the judge to deny the continuance request and proceed with the trial.

Ammerman agreed to release the jury and continue the trial. The case will be scheduled for jury selection next week.

A bench warrant was issued for the arrest of the victim who did not comply with the subpoena. If he is apprehended, he will remain incarcerated until the trial.

Afterward, Sayers commented that the victims "have been hostile since the beginning" of the case, which was one of the reasons they withdrew two counts of aggravated assault at that stage.

He said he spoke with the victim who didn't show up for court and he was only concerned about taking his girlfriend to a medical appointment on the same date.

The problems with the victims led him to offer the two plea agreements, both rejected by Ammerman.

The second plea was for the top of the standard range of one month's incarceration on each charge and would run consecutively, giving her a four-month sentence, he explained.

He added the commonwealth was not opposed to home detention due to Reams' health issues.

But the judge did not accept that, and Sayers doesn't believe Maines will agree to that sentence again.

According to the affidavit, Reams called police saying she was in a parking lot at the corner of Curtin and Lingle streets. She claimed two men there looked "suspicious" so she asked where they were from and why they were there.

She stated that she was "receiving a lot of harassment in this town" and she was "done," adding that "it's gonna be bad."

The two individuals told police they were playing Pokemon Go in the lot when they were approached by Reams. They described Reams as "clearly intoxicated." She allegedly fired a gun four or five times.