Metro

An inmate presently in the Blair County Prison has filed a petition with the United States District Court in Johnstown seeking credit for an estimated 500 days he spent in the Cambria County Prison while awaiting disposition of charges in Blair County.

Robert Lewis Stevenson-Watts, 36, filed his federal complaint on March 20, stating that, in the past couple of years, he spent time in both county prisons.

Stevenson-Watts was most recently apprehended by the U.S. Marshals in New Jersey on warrants concerning his alleged violations of parole and probation orders issued by judges in both counties.

He is alleged to have terrorized an ex-girlfriend, thus violating several protection from abuse orders.

As Stevenson-Watts tells his story in his recent federal petition, he eventually was convicted of terroristic threats and harassment in a bench trial before Blair County Judge Wade A. Kagarise.

The judge, he reported, sentenced him to a prison term of four to 12 months, to be followed by three years of probation.

His conviction stemmed from sending threatening messages to the girlfriend, who was living in Altoona on Sept. 19, 2021.

According to his petition, he was awarded time-served from February through May 2023, but received only 17 days’ credit for the time he spent behind bars while in the Cambria County Prison.

In actuality, he charged, he had spent 500-plus days in the Cambria County Prison while awaiting trial on the Blair County offenses.

Despite his documentation of his time spent in the Cambria prison, only 17 of those days were accredited to his Blair County offenses.

Thus, he contends, he is presently being detained unlawfully.

He stated that he has attempted to have his sentence corrected, yet, he states, “These things remain pending and unreasoned and plaintiff (Stevenson-Watts) remains detained.”

He is asking the federal court to issue an order that he receive credit for the 500 days he spent in Cambria County.

He argues that his rights under the Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution have been violated.

Stevenson-Watts also is asking compensatory and punitive damages be awarded to him, noting his “unlawful loss of liberty” and his 500 “days of excessive incarceration.”

Magistrate Judge Christopher B. Brown, who presides in Pittsburgh, has been assigned to review the lawsuit.

The defendants in the case include: the Altoona police officer who initially charged Stevenson-Watts; the warden of the Blair County Prison; two deputy wardens; and the Blair County District Attorney and his First Assistant.