Community Corner
Local Veteran Sentenced for Domestic Assault
Robert Delaney, 36, has run afoul of the law since his return from Iraq.
After assaulting his wife at a July birthday party for his stepson, a local veteran with a history of erratic behavior was sentenced to 19 days to 23.5 months in prison on May 8, but will continue to stay at the Caln Township VA center while his attorney negotiates a transfer of his probation to Washington state.
Robert Delaney, 36, had plead guilty to the charge in March.
According to The Times Herald, Delaney, a veteran of two tours in Iraq, was told by Judge Thomas Gavin that any failure on his part to abide by hospital rules will result in prison time.
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On July 16, Delaney, intoxicated, pushed his wife into a corner during a birthday party for his stepson at their Starr Street home and threw a water bottle at her head. Delaney’s brother-in-law charged that Delaney also pushed him out of the house while he was holding his one-year-old son.
According to the Herald, when police arrived, young party guests sat crying on the front lawn.
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According to prosecuting attorney Michelle Frei, since 2006, Delaney has been arrested and convicted of various crimes in four separate states. In 2008, he was twice arrested for domestic battery in Nevada and was on probation for a DUI in Chester County when he as arrested for the July assault.
When he rendered his sentence, Gavin emphasized that he was treating Delaney as a common criminal and not as a veteran. Delaney told investigators he began drinking when he was 13, and so the Judge determined his alcohol-problem is unrelated to his military service.
