Pa. magistrate charged with indecent assault

A Pennsylvania magistrate judge has been charged with indecent assault after a woman who had been a witness in his court told police that he had visited her apartment and groped her.

The 31-year-oldwoman told Pennsylvania State Police that Magisteral District Judge Jeff Joy, 50, of New Freedom,visited her twice after she appeared in his court.

After the courtappearance, the woman told police that Joy visited her twice — the first time because she had said that a neighbor was abusing a child, and the second time to buy some of her artwork. During that second visit, Joy asked the woman to model a pair of stockings that she wore in a self-portrait. She said she agreed because her boyfriend — who was in jail at the time on probation violations — still had business before Joy’s court.

During that visit, the victim says, he groped her and licked her after she had gone into a room to change.

Police say that during the investigation, a 24-year-old woman who was also a defendant in Joy’s court told police that Joy had visited her apartment and offered to take her to dinner. Another woman told investigators that Joy had made sexually inappropriate comments while she was in his court.

The York Daily Record reports that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had reassigned criminal cases before Joy to other judges in April.

Magisterial judges in Pennsylvania hear minor criminal matters, as well as early procedural matters for serious crimes. The also preside over small civil cases.