When 40-year-old Mark Cummins Frailey walked into the Blair County Prison’s library on Monday, he didn’t know revenge was on the mind of someone already there.
It was there that Frailey, a former Tyrone Borough Police officer and chief of police at Tyrone Area School District, was punched by a man, who police say Frailey arrested while acting as a police officer.
According to police, the fight occurred at about 9 a.m. Monday morning when 36-year-old Michael M. James of Altoona threatened Frailey, then began to punch him.
Frailey, needing treatment after the altercation, was taken to Altoona Hospital where he received stitches to close his wounds.
James was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct, simple assault, aggravated assault, assault by prisoner, harassment and stalking and terroristic threats. He was arraigned before District Magistrate Robert A. Shoff and placed in the Blair County Prison in lieu of $10,000 cash bail.
Frailey’s wounds were evident yesterday morning as he was led from a sheriff’s car to the office of District Magistrate Kenneth Garman on Fourth Street in Altoona. His head was wrapped in bandages and bruising was visible on his cheeks and eye.
Frailey was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on charges that he attempted to run-down the father of a juvenile girl in which the former policeman is alleged to have sexual relations with. Garman granted a defense motion to postpone the hearing due to a family emergency of one of two attorney’s Frailey hired for his case – Thomas Dickey of Altoona. He is also represented by Theodore Krol.
Police said on Feb. 21, the adult male victim told police that he had left his home on Oak Street sometime after 11 a.m. that morning and started driving towards Adams Avenue. He said as he went down the road, he observed Frailey driving towards him.
He said Frailey stopped his vehicle, began backing up, then began moving forward, again passing the victim. The victim then said he turned around and went back to his driveway to call police, knowing there is a current PFA in effect in regards to Frailey and his daughter.
Police said the victim had no doubt that Frailey was there to stalk his daughter because the street was a dead end and that Frailey was aware that the girl would be there this past weekend.
Police said after the man phoned police, he parked his vehicle in front of Frailey, who was sitting in his vehicle at the end of Oak Street.
Police said the man was standing outside his vehicle, but made no “move” toward Frailey, when Frailey began operating his vehicle in the direction of the victim.
Police said Frailey could have gone to the left without endangering anyone, but instead, the victim had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck by Frailey’s car.
These latest charges, misdemeanor crimes of recklessly endangering another person, simple assault and harassment, were filed Saturday after Hollidaysburg-based state police Trooper Douglas Jenkins interviewed the victim and Frailey at the Tyrone police station.
On Tuesday, Frailey appeared before District Attorney Robert Stewart III in Huntingdon County and chose to stipulate to a bail revocation petition filed after the simple assault charges were drawn up in last month. Frailey will remained jailed in an isolated section of the Huntingdon County Jail until his trial date.
The initial investigation opened in August when police learned Frailey may have had inappropriate sexual contact with a 16-year-old female student he once coached in softball.
The affidavit of probable cause filed by the state police states the investigation into Frailey’s alleged activities began on June 17 when the victim and her mother were interviewed by Cpl. Darron H. Stratton at the Hollidaysburg barracks.
During the interview, police said the victim’s mother advised that Frailey, while employed as a school police officer, also supervised a club known as the Police Explorers and coached a softball team.
She told police Frailey began to drive her daughter home after the different school activities and also began calling their residence.
She told police that she had asked Frailey to stop these actions, but Frailey continued to do so.
She also told police, according to the affidavit, that Frailey once picked her daughter up at 5:30 a.m. on a school day for a “school-related breakfast.”
She later learned there was no such breakfast held in the district.
She said on Jan. 16, her daughter cell phone rang, and when she answered it, she discovered Frailey was the caller.
According to the affidavit, the juvenile girl admitted that in mid to late May, Frailey “French kissed” her at a spot located along state Route 453 just past Grier School.
She also said she met him there again on June 12 and they again French kissed. She also said they touched each other inappropriately.
On June 18, Stratton interviewed Frailey, who first denied the allegations, but later said the only thing that happened between him and the victim occurred with her consent after she turned 16 years old.
After this interview, Stratton contacted the victim’s mother who said her daughter admitted that she had sexual intercourse with Frailey one week prior to their conversation.
On June 25, the victim and her mother met with Stratton and Brown at the Family Services office in Altoona and the victim advised that she did have sexual relations with Frailey on three separate occasions.
She said these incidents all occurred at his residence in his bedroom. The mother and daughter also noted that Frailey used e-mail and instant message to contact the girl from both the school computer and his personal computer at home.
According to the affidavit, Frailey admitted his sexual encounter by stating to a Tyrone resident that he made a mistake and had sexual relations with a 16-year-old girl and that he wasn’t worried because police can only arrest him for corruption of minors because he waited for the girl to turn 16 years of age. Frailey also told the man that he stored all his personal files and records in his garage.
On Aug. 11, Brown served a search warrant on the computer system of the Tyrone Area School District and recovered a “box” of e-mails directed from Frailey to the girl. Brown also said he served a second warrant on a garage at a property located on West 17th Street in Tyrone and found newspaper clippings, two VCR tapes, a letter from an attorney, an official police book and a folder titled “Personal.”
Seven days later, Brown, with permission from the victim’s mother, analyzed the family’s personal computer. There, two instant messages screen names were found – mcf646col and mcfrailey.
The last search warrant was served in October. At Frailey’s home, a 2003 date book was found, eight floppy disks, a certificate issued to the victim, a birthday card, a printed e-mail message, four pages of written notes, seven compact discs an a photo display of the victim.
