The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 4, 2008

Crashes net parole violator more time

By Matt Snyder

GREENVILLE — Mercer County Common Pleas Judge Christopher J. St. John read off a list of the injuries Charles Sensesak inflicted on a pedestrian he hit in 2007 with his car: broken hip, broken leg, broken pelvis and blood clot to the brain.

“She has permanent memory damage and she can’t run, she can’t kneel and she is afraid to go outside,” St. John said Monday via a video-conference sentencing for the former Greenville man.

Sensesak, 28, remains in state prison in Greensburg, serving a 4-to-10-year sentence for violating his parole. He was paroled in 2005 after serving time for dealing cocaine.

Sensesak was on parole in April 2007 when Greenville-West Salem Township police said he drove in Greenville under the influence of alcohol and drugs. His car hit pedestrian Darla Hellyer, 49, who was in a crosswalk on Main and Mercer streets. He then drove through a red light, causing two other cars to crash before wrecking on Shenango Street, where police caught him.

The other accidents caused soft tissue damage and pain for Tracy Hatton, and left Edward Keyser with a painful back injury.

“I have to take a pill to get through work, for pain,” Keyser testified. He said he takes about three pills a day, and his back pain has interfered with playing with his two sons and fishing.

St. John sentenced Sensesak to 1è to 4 years in state prison for accidents involving personal injury, damage to vehicles and drunken driving. That time will be served after his current term for the parole violation.

“You can see that your actions have had a profound impact on three people,” St. John said. “The consequences of your actions will survive long after you are done serving the sentence I impose.”

Sensesak asked St. John for a state prison sentence so that he can finish his drug and alcohol rehabilitation, which would be interrupted if he’d been given a county sentence.

Sensesak said he blacked out and does not recall any of that night’s events, but said he feels horrible. “I didn’t believe any of that happened until I saw it right in front of my face.”

He said drugs caused his life to spin out of control, and admitted he’d used cocaine, heroin, Oxycontin, LSD and methamphetamine.

A little over two years between his release from prison on Jan. 1, 2005, and the wrecks, Sensesak said. He said blamed part of his problems on a woman he was dating.

He added that, because of his time as a dealer, he knows too many people involved in drugs in Greenville and “Once I get back to Greenville, it all goes downhill.”

Sensesak was also ordered to pay costs, fines and restitution to the victims.

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