Second charge can be conditionally dismissed in 30 days

                A Skippack judge ruled last Wednesday in the case of the East Greenville mayor accused of injuring a 15-year-old boy who urinated on public property near his home.

                 Following a summary trial that lasted more than 90 minutes, District Judge Albert Augustine ruled that Ryan Sloyer was not guilty of disorderly conduct from a June 16 incident near his home at the intersection of and 3rd and Railroad streets in the borough.

                 Augustine dismissed the charge without condition. He also issued a continuance on a charge of harassment against Sloyer, 47. The judge ordered the defendant to complete an anger management class within 30 days in order to get the charge dismissed.

                "There was a lot of poor judgement shown during this incident," the judge said after issuing his verdict.

                 Sloyer could be found guilty of harassment if the anger management class is not completed within 30 days, according to an employee in Augustine office.

                Maureen Coggins, Sloyer's defense attorney, argued ardently that her client broke no laws.  "The mayor did not commit any crimes," she said.  Coggins described Augustine's ruling as reasonable. 

                "If a similar issue were to occur again, I think the mayor would handle it differently," she said.

                Sloyer confronted three teenagers near his residence in the 300 block of 3rd Street after his wife Aricia witnessed one of them urinating on a nearby railroad bridge, according to testimony.

                "I heard the mayor's wife say we should go urinate somewhere else," said a 14-year-old boy who lives in the borough, under oath.

                The mayor, after being told the boys utilized profanity to speak to his wife, approached the boys in the street at the intersection.

                "I was upset," Sloyer said under cross examination by James Price, the Montgomery County assistant district attorney prosecuting the case. 

                The 15-year-old Hereford Township resident, who told authorities he suffered a groin injury when Sloyer picked up the rear wheel of his bike, testified under oath that he urinated under the railroad bridge "because I couldn't hold it anymore."

                He also stated under oath that Sloyer held the wheel off the ground for 30 to 45 seconds. The boy told the court he apologized and asked the mayor to stop.

                "I was scared when he grabbed the bike," the boy said.

                According to Sloyer, two of the boys positioned themselves behind him and one in front of him. The mayor testified that the boy in the front got close enough so he could grab the rear tire of the bicycle.

                "I was afraid he was going to kick up the tire and hit me in the leg," Sloyer said under oath. "So I grabbed the tire. It never left the ground."

                Both of the boys testified that Sloyer let go of the tire after the 14-year-old told the third boy to record the incident on a cell phone. The mayor confirmed this incident during his testimony.