According to Centre Daily Times, on May 13, Bellefonte’s School Board Representative 58 year-old Jack I. Bechdel II was taken into custody. He pleaded guilty to counts of disorderly conduct and harassment. Other misdemeanor charges against him, count of simple assault and a citation for driving with a suspended license, were all dropped.
Bechdel faced the charges after being accused of shoving a woman out of a moving car, and then striking her in the face. He was sentenced by Centre County President Judge Johnathan Grine to 9 months of probation, as well as 16 hours of community service, and a $300 fine for his actions. He will also have to complete an anger management program with a mental health evaluation.
Jack resigned from the BASD School Board the day after charges were pressed. Although, the deadline to take his name off the ballot for next year had already passed, so he couldn’t forfeit, even though Centre Daily Times reported that Bechdel “‘highly doubts’ he would win.”
After State College Police arrested Bechdel, the woman who reported him said that they had been driving to Sheetz, when he began arguing with her about her drinking habits, and proceeded to reach over and open the passenger door so he could push her out on Shiloh Road. When she wouldn’t get out, he struck her across the face with a backhanded, closed-fist swing, causing her to fall out of the moving vehicle. He then ran over her ankle. The woman suffered injuries to her nose and foot, as well as two black eyes.
Jack Bechdel claimed in an interview at Lowe’s in Patton Township to have only struck the woman because she slapped him across the right side of his face and knocked a tooth loose, while driving, Centre Daily Times said. The officer who arrested him noted that most of his teeth “were rotted or missing, and he had no visible injuries,” as reported by the Centre Daily Times.
District Judge Allen Sinclair released Bechdel on a $10,000 unsecured bail. Bechdel resigned from the school board of representatives, and the act was accepted by all five representatives on the Board. Holly Hopkins was appointed in place of Jack Bechdel for the rest of his term.
