July 21, 2015

The future is uncertain, but Colette Brown and the other members of Concord First are looking ahead to the November election. They’re pleased their referendum question could be on the ballot, even though it is a year late.

That question will ask voters whether or not they want Concord to change from a township of the second class to township of the first class.

Concord First, a citizens’ group, held a petition drive last summer to get the question on the November 2014 ballot. The group needed 583 signatures, and it got 994.

However, township supervisors and the Delaware County Board of Elections challenged the petition. The Court of Common Pleas denied the petition and Commonwealth Court upheld that lower court decision.

Brown, however, took the matter to the state Supreme Court, which overturned the previous decisions. That announcement came Monday, July 20.

Brown said reading the court’s decision was gratifying, but characterized what happens next as “unchartered territory.”

She believes that the question will be on the ballot this November and that there is a lot of work to do in educating the voters about why she and Concord First think the township would be better off with the change.

“Quite frankly, it will allow us to make a much-needed change in our government leadership and find leaders who will make decisions that are in the best interest of the residents and who will not be invested in continuing to rezone and overbuild,” she said.

Brown called the Supreme Court decision “a huge victory” for township residents because, if the referendum passes, a new township governing body would be appointed.

She also said the current supervisors challenged the petition because they would be out of office if voters approved the change.

Brown added that she was pleased that the court characterized some of the challengers’ arguments as “hypothetical scenarios” and were “dubious at best.”

Regardless of what happens next, Brown thinks the effort has been worthwhile.

“Although it took almost a year, in the end justice has been served. We had no money, no legal resources, no political connections, and no friends in high places. Instead, we had a small group of community members who were committed to making a positive change in our township,” she said.

She specifically thanked Dan Levin and Ken Hemphill. Levin, she said, wrote the appeals even though he has no legal background. She referred to Hemphill as “a driving force in bringing much-needed change to Concord.”

The story on the Supreme Court’s decision can be found here.

 

The investigation and subsequent arrest in April of an area disc jockey on sex-assault, drug, and pornography charges suggested that he had access to other potential victims, prosecutors said.

On Tuesday, July 21, Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan announced that those fears had been realized, leading to a second set of charges, including rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, against Daniel J. Milowicki, 28, of West Chester.

Hogan said another woman contacted police in response to publicity surrounding the first arrest of Milowicki, who has residences in Westtown and West Bradford townships. Milowicki worked as a deejay for weddings, children’s birthday parties, school dances, bars, and other events. An online profile lists him as a “disc jockey, producer, photographer, videographer, musician, graphic illustrator, and more.”

In a press release, Hogan said Milowicki used a calculating approach to his victims.

“His predatory behavior coupled with how he presented himself as a DJ and photographer allowed him to target vulnerable young women,” Hogan said. “These most recent charges came to light because the victim saw the news about the defendant’s first arrest and found the strength to come forward to police.”

According to the criminal complaint, Milowicki contacted the 28-year-old woman online after he saw photos of her that had been posted without her knowledge on a “revenge porn” website, often a venue for disgruntled ex-partners. Milowicki allegedly offered to pay her $300 an hour to do a photo shoot, which she declined.

The woman said Milowicki persisted in asking, and she relented in September 2014 because she had followed him on Facebook, where he appeared to have a professional presence and “was doing a lot of shoots with young kids and established organizations,” the complaint said.

The complaint said the woman went to Milowicki’s home in West Bradford Township, where she refused the marijuana he offered her and then attempted to refuse his sexual advances. The woman said that she started crying and repeatedly said no but that Milowicki, with cameras rolling, ignored her pleas to stop the sexual assault, the complaint said.

In the earlier case, Milowicki also used a modeling job as a ploy to lure a young woman to his home for sex, prosecutors said. A 21-year-old woman responded to an Internet ad on Craigslist looking for a petite model, and Milowicki took her to his home for the “photo shoot.” It ended with his insistence that she engage in sex acts and his threats to release video of them if she didn’t continue to comply, the complaint said.

After the victim contacted state police, troopers executed a search warrant in February, seizing recording materials, hundreds of images of child pornography, surreptitiously recorded “up-skirt” videos of young women, and a marijuana-growing operation, the complaint said.

“Our initial fears that there might be more victims of this defendant have been realized,” said Hogan in the release.  “Law enforcement remains concerned that there are more people who have been assaulted by this defendant.  We encourage anyone with information to come forward and to contact the police.  We are not going to stop investigating until justice is done for the victims and to the defendant.”

The case is being investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police.  Anyone with further information should contact Trooper Lori Edgar at 610-486-6280, Hogan said.

Milowicki, who faces hundreds of felony charges, was released on Monday, July 20, from Chester County Prison after being placed on electronic home confinement, court records said. Bail was set at $250,000 unsecured.

With the exception of the corruption of minors offense, all of the charges stemming from the first arrest, including aggravated indecent assault,  were held for trial after a preliminary hearing on June 17. A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled in the second case, records said.