Police Reports

On December 6th 2022, at approximately 9:00 AM the Friendship Police Department arrested Dennis N. Southwick (34 YO) of Friendship as a result of a drug sale investigation.

Southwick was charged with PL 220.31 CRIMINAL SALE OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE, a class D felony.

Southwick was processed at the Friendship Police Department and arraigned at the Friendship Town Court where he was released to appear at a later date. Southwick is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

District Attorney Stephanie L. Vettenburg-Shaffer confirms that the large police presence seen by Kane residents on December 6, 2022, was a joint task force of several police agencies on a saturation patrol. 

The coordinated special detail consisted of the McKean County Detectives, Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, McKean County Drug Task Force, McKean County K9 Unit, Kane Borough Police, Bradford City Police, Bradford City K9, McKean County Sheriff’s Department, City of St. Mary’s Police, Emporium Police, McKean County Probation, Warren County Detective and K9, Warren Drug Task Force, Elk County Detective, Homeland Security-Pittsburgh, and McKean County District Attorney’s Office. 

The detail was designed to saturate the area with law enforcement to allow for high visibility of law enforcement, develop intelligence, locate wanted individuals, follow up on existing leads and act as a support for each of the participating departments. 

The special details have been conducted throughout our region with the coordination of the agencies.

District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer:  “The coordination of the agencies maximizes each locality’s abilities with the increased manpower and resources. The coordination allows for us to pull resources. The number of officers that were in Kane tonight exceeded 30 officers from the agencies that participated.  The details allow for a large influx of officers that exceed the number of officers that any one municipality would be able to have and creates an opportunity that would not otherwise exist. The entire region has benefited from these patrols since they started occurring regularly in our region – specifically McKean and surrounding counites.  I am extremely grateful for the generous participation of the law enforcement agencies that participated.”

The details include both marked and unmarked units and range from vehicle stops to residential searches and warrant service. 

These details continue to be coordinated and will continue to occur throughout the area.

(KANE, Pennsylvania): District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer reports that, following a jury trial on December 5, 2022 at the McKean County Courthouse, Albert Thielges, previously of Kane, was convicted of Failing to Provide Accurate Registration Information as a Transient as required under the law formerly known as Megan’s Law (Felony 1).

The law formerly known as Megan’s Law, now known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), requires those convicted of certain offenses to register their address or other area where the offender frequents. Thielges was found to provide the address of a residence in Kane that had been torn down previously.   

Officer Derrick Snyder of the Kane Borough Police Department investigated the case.  Assistant District Attorney Sarah Dufresne prosecuted the case on behalf of the Commonwealth.  The Judge scheduled sentencing for January 12, 2023 at 10 a.m.