A man convicted last year for harassing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her attorneys was arrested Wednesday for violating terms of his parole.
Shawn Christy, 21, was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals after he left the facilities of a social services residential program in Pennsylvania.
Christy and his father had been sentenced to five years of probation in June after being found guilty of making threats against the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.
The threats reportedly involved phone calls and letters occurred between 2009 and 2011.
As a condition of his probation, Christy was ordered to spend up to six months in a community re-entry program at the Catholic Social Services Residential Program in Scranton, Pa., about 48 miles from his home in McAdoo, according to a U.S. Marshals press release,
Christy walked off the residential program’s campus without approval on Wednesday morning, according to the press release, and “was verbally abusive toward staff, and caused property damage at the facility.”
Christy was apprehended in McAdoo following a foot chase by police. A knife reportedly was found in his possession.
He is being held pending extradition to Alaska.
Craig Christy defended his son’s actions to CBS 21 News in Harrisburg, Pa., claiming his son was reacting to having been bitten by hundreds of bed bugs during his stay at the facility.
“I wish, honestly, I could go back and it didn't happen . . . It wasn’t the brightest idea,” Shawn Christy said in an interview with the Scranton Times-Tribune.
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