Protesters will target Sharon halfway house

Neither of the two men charged was a sex offender.

staff report

SHARON, Pa. — Protesters plan to rally against a halfway house for state prison inmates after two of its residents were accused of sex assaults on two teenage girls.

“Please come join us to rally and let the PA Department of Corrections know that we do not want sex offenders in our community around our children,” reads a flier put out by rally organizers.

“We will march from McDonald’s to the halfway house. So please make a sign and join us,” it urges. It sets the time for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The rally will organize in the Reyer’s parking lot downtown.

Two men from the Sharon Community Correction Center at 300 West State St., a short distance from the rally point, are accused of following the girls, 15 and 16, around Sharon on May 31, according to an affidavit of probable cause on file at District Justice James McMahon’s office in Sharon.

The men had met the girls before that day, the affidavit says, and had given them fake names and a telephone number.

On May 31, they caught up with the girls at Bicentennial Park.

Bryce Southwick, 25, is accused of following the 15-year-old to the river and cornering her, then forcing her to perform a sex act. He’s charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and indecent assault, and was scheduled for a preliminary hearing at McMahon’s office at 11 a.m. today.

John Morris, 28, is accused of grabbing the other girl’s breasts and exposing himself to her. He is charged with indecent assault and open lewdness. His preliminary hearing is also set for 11 a.m. today.

Southwick and Morris are both in state custody on $30,000 bond each, said a spokesperson at McMahon’s office. They are not at the halfway house.

The flier says there are 12 sex offenders being rehabilitated at the center right now.

Sharon police Capt. Travis Martwinski said he cannot vouch for the accuracy of that number, but he knows there are 32 residents there. Not all of them are sex offenders, he said.

Southwick and Morris were not sex offenders, he said. He said they told police the night of their arrests that their convictions were drug-related. He said he did not verify that, but he knows they aren’t on the registered sex offender list.

He said Southwick and Morris had a curfew of 8 p.m. at the center, which gives counseling to inmates nearing the end of their sentences.

No one from the correction center was available to comment Monday.

Attempts to reach rally organizers were unsuccessful.