FRACKVILLE - Criminal charges against the manager of Hillside SPCA were withdrawn Wednesday after she provided alibis and another woman admitted committing the crime.
Barbara Umlauf, 63, of 2434 Walnut St., Ashland, was charged by state police Trooper Edward Sanchez of the Frackville station with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass and a summary offense of criminal mischief.
Assistant district attorney William Burke said prosecutors chose to withdraw the charges after Umlauf provided two alibi witnesses putting her in another location at the time of the Aug. 13 incident at a farm at 103 Aristes Road in Union Township.
Additionally, Burke said another woman admitted to being on the property at the time and will face charges in the future.
Umlauf's attorney, Stephen Ellwood, said the woman who came forward did so after reading an article in a local newspaper about the shelter manager's arrest.
Ellwood said he is happy his client was able to clear her name and have the charges withdrawn.
Burke said the name of the woman who admitted to the crime, also a shelter worker, is not being released until she is formally charged.
Sanchez charged Umlauf with going to the property of Brian and Sheri Boyer with a juvenile girl, rooting through items in a tool shed and moving corral fencing so a horse could not reach its water barrel.
When Brian Boyer confronted the two on his property, he said the woman identified herself as Barbara Umlauf, Sanchez said.
When interviewed, the man identified Umlauf as the woman who was on the property, saying they were familiar with the woman because she was harassing them for more than 15 years.