What A Farce ;) The Over $23,000-a-Day Circus at the Ephrata Police Department

🎭 Comedy or Catastrophe? You Decide.

Picture this: Ephrata, Pennsylvania. A quaint little borough of rolling hills, charming shops, and a taxpayer-funded circus where the ringmasters wear badges.

The Ephrata Police Department costs the citizens of this community more than $23,000 every single day. For that fortune, what do we get in return? Dereliction of duty. Blatant violations of state law. And victims of crime treated like punchlines in a terrible stand-up routine.

This isn't based on one bad day. It's a documented, multi-day cascade of malice and incompetence. Let's review the tape.

🏚️ Case Study #1: Theft Report Denied, Victim in Cuffs (April 8, 2023)

First call (afternoon): I dialed 911 to report theft of service and theft of property. Faith Parks had stolen from me. Officer Orwig arrived, shrugged at the evidence, and delivered his punchline: “What do you want me to do about it?” Instead of enforcing the law, he dismissed the crime entirely.

Second call (later that day): That evening, instead of arresting the thief, the Ephrata Police arrested me. My “offense”? Retrieving my own extension cord — with my neighbor’s help — from Faith’s garage, where she had stashed it after stealing it. I needed it to power a space heater because my house was out of propane and freezing.

Outcome: Two calls. Two chances to enforce the law. The thief walked free. The Borough’s electric monopoly went unregulated. And the victim — freezing cold and just trying to survive — went in cuffs.

🚪 Case Study #2: Domestic Violence Ignored, Law Broken Twice (April 9, 2023)

First call (afternoon): My sister, high on meth, refused to leave my home my home. I called 911. Officers, including Officer Allen, responded. Instead of charging her with trespass or assault, they told me she now had “residency” rights in my house. By granting her legal cover she didn’t have, they stripped me of safety in my own home.

Second call (later that day): My sister returned, kicked in my door again, and assaulted me. Allen himself saw the forced entry, heard my testimony, and still refused to act. His words: “There’s no assault statute in Pennsylvania.”

Outcome: Two calls. Two crimes in plain view. Instead of arresting my sister for trespass, assault, or intimidation, Officer Allen handed her “residency rights” she never had. I lost my home. I lost my safety. The law was mocked. The abuser stayed. The victim lived in fear, waiting for the injury everyone knew was coming.

💻 Case Study #3: Assault, a Broken Rib, and a Belated PFA (April 14, 2023)

First call (morning): Jaime’s threats and intimidation escalated. I called 911. Four officers, including Allen, arrived. They laughed at me and told me to “go to Lancaster and get a PFA.” They knew I didn’t yet have one, and they knew the law already gave them the duty to act. They chose humiliation instead.

Second call (later that day): Hours later, Jaime and Angela escalated to outright theft. With three witnesses present, they passed my electronics out a second-story window into a waiting car. When I tried to intervene, Jaime assaulted me, leaving me with a broken rib.

Police and ambulances arrived en masse. I was taken to the hospital by ambulance, while the people who had just robbed and assaulted me were allowed to stay in my home free of consequences.

When I was discharged, my best friend picked me up. We tried to return home but saw Jaime still in the backyard. I couldn’t go back. Instead, my friend left me stranded at Weis grocery store — injured, broke, with no safe place to go.

Humiliated, I asked the Weis store manager to call the police — the same department that had seen me injured hours earlier. After what felt like an eternity, Officer Garver and another officer arrived. They made it clear they wouldn’t help. Their only half-offer was to “see if the MDJ would do an emergency PFA,” dripping with contempt for the idea of providing service.

Around 10 p.m., Garver drove me to the MDJ’s office. During the ride, instead of offering support, he told me why he didn’t like me or my family — denigrating our character while I sat there injured and dispossessed.

Finally, right before midnight, my sister was served with the PFA and ordered evicted — what Allen should have done on April 9, before I was forced to endure days of fear and ultimately suffer the injury I feared was coming.

Outcome: Two calls. Two refusals to act. One broken rib. An ambulance ride. Hours stranded in public. And finally, the midnight PFA that should have been served five days earlier.

🚨 Case Study #4: A PFA Ignored, a 302 Weaponized (April 15, 2023)

First “call” (morning, April 15): I arrived at the Ephrata Police Department so early the doors were locked. With a broken rib, I rang the buzzer. Officer Newswanger met me. I asked about my stolen iPad — the same one Jaime had been holding the night before when police responded. That iPad wasn’t a luxury; it was my livelihood as a digital nomad.

Instead of helping, Newswanger was dismissive and mocking. He refused to recover my property or enforce the law. And if he truly believed I was mentally ill — as his tone implied — then his duty wasn’t less, it was greater. Vulnerable citizens are owed a higher standard of care. Instead, I was humiliated and left with nothing.

Second call (later that day): When I returned home, I found my fence destroyed where my sister had driven through it. I was outside cleaning the debris when Newswanger returned. Without warning, he handcuffed me and put me in the back of his cruiser.

I was eventually told I was being taken on a 302 warrant to WellSpan Ephrata Hospital. From the back seat, I begged him to:

• Bring my backpack from inside with me to the hospital — it contained my ID, Bible, and valuable property.
• Confirm and document that I had regained possession of my iMac.
• Prevent my landlord from entering my house over my objection without proper notice.

He denied all three requests — violating his duty to safeguard evidence and protect a victim’s rights. In doing so, he facilitated the intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) at the hands of his fellow officers and my family.

Outcome: Two calls. Two failures. One iPad still gone. One backpack, Bible, and ID ignored. One fence driven through. And one unlawful 302 commitment — handcuffs, humiliation, and constitutional rights erased. The abuser was left in my home, free to keep stealing. The police turned their power not on the criminal, but on the victim they were sworn to protect.

⚖️ Case Study #5: Theft Reported, Speech Silenced (April 16, 2023)

By April 16, I was still locked inside WellSpan Ephrata ER — illegally detained on a fraudulent 302 built on perjured statements and malicious police intent. From that hospital bed, I learned for the first time that the very thing I had feared had already happened: my home was being stripped bare.

First call (from the ER): My friend Aaron Raeburn went to check on my house. Aaron had witnessed the April 14 assault against me, and now he saw my mother, father, sister, and niece physically removing my belongings. He also confirmed that police had already seen Jaime inside my house in direct violation of the emergency PFA served on April 14.

That was the first I knew my home had been robbed. I called 911 from the ER to report both the theft and the PFA violation. Officer Allen came to the hospital in person and took my report. But what should have been automatic enforcement was buried. No property was recovered. No PFA violation was enforced.

Second call (silenced): Later that day, I tried to make a follow-up call from the hospital. I was told I could not use the phone. When I later reviewed my medical records, I learned why: staff documented that Officer Allen told them I was “harassing EPD.”

Even if I had been, the First Amendment guarantees the right to petition the government for redress of grievances. Instead, the Ephrata Police turned a hospital into their gag order, stripping me of my constitutional rights from a hospital bed while my abusers emptied my home.

Outcome: One theft reported. One PFA violation documented. No property recovered. No arrest made. And when I tried to follow up, my voice was silenced by police order. On April 16, my abusers stripped my home. The police stripped my rights. And the victim was left with nothing.

🎪 The Farce of Our Funding

Let’s bring it back to the price of admission for this circus. All of this—the illegal arrests, the broken laws, the state-sanctioned gaslighting, the weaponized 302, the violated civil rights—costs us more than $23,000 a day.

• More than twenty-three thousand dollars for lies.
• More than twenty-three thousand dollars for oppression.
• More than twenty-three thousand dollars for a taxpayer-funded clown act that puts citizens in the hospital and criminals in their homes.

✊ A Community Call to Action

This is a meticulously documented pattern of abuse of power that should terrify every citizen in Ephrata. We, the people who pay their salaries, must demand an answer: what is the purpose of the Ephrata Police Department? Is it to enforce the law, or to break it? To protect citizens, or to target them?

Ephrata deserves real accountability. The stand-up routine is over. If the Ephrata Police Department can’t do its job, it’s time we found someone who will.

Frequently Asked questions (FAQ)

• Q1: Why call the Ephrata PD a “farce”? Because the meticulously documented pattern of dismissing real crimes, violating state law, and retaliating against victims—all while costing taxpayers over $23,000 a day—is an absurd and tragic parody of public service.
• Q2: Isn’t this just a family dispute? No. Under Pennsylvania law, domestic violence triggers mandatory duties for law enforcement, regardless of familial relationship. Furthermore, crimes like burglary, assault, and theft are not "family matters"; they are violations of the state penal code that the police are sworn to enforce.
• Q3: Can the police really have you involuntarily committed (302'd)? The law allows for a 302 commitment when a person is a clear and present danger to themselves or others due to mental illness. Weaponizing this process to silence, intimidate, or retaliate against a crime victim is a profound abuse of power and a violation of civil rights.
• Q4: What recourse do citizens have? Citizens can file Right-to-Know requests for public records, submit formal complaints to the Borough Council and the PA Attorney General's Office, and file civil rights lawsuits under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations of constitutional rights.

Further Reading & Support Resources

Civil Rights & Policing

• ACLU – Police Accountability
• Pennsylvania Crime Victims Act
• PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Local Governance & Official Complaints

• Ephrata Borough Council
• Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office
• File an Official Complaint with Ephrata Police
• PA Office of Attorney General – Submit a Complaint

Community & Advocacy

• Facebook Group: EPH the Boro (Community Discussion)
• Facebook Group: Policing Pennsylvania Police and Local Government (Advocacy & Accountability)
• METHphrata Chronicles, Part 1: Easter Sunday (Internal Link)
• METHphrata Chronicles, Part 2: Official Oppression (Internal Link)
• Vocal: Sunshine Firecracker Author Page (Internal Link)

#NothingButLove ☀️🧨💛

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. The events described are based on the author's personal account and evidence in her possession. If you are in physical danger, please contact a certified professional or local law enforcement.

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