The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

May 22, 2009

UPDATED: Sex offender gets probation after work as volunteer

By Matt Snyder

SHARON — A Youngstown sex offender heavily involved in Mercer County volunteerism and politics got 2 years’ probation Friday because he never alerted Pennsylvania state police of his activities.

Timothy Louis Wagner, 57, pleaded guilty to not complying with the registration of sexual offenders on April 7.

Wagner was instrumental in getting Sankofa House for Women Inc., Sharon, off the ground and worked on it for four years, said the organization’s director and founder Lynda Moss-McDougall.

He was also an unofficial adviser for the Mercer County Young Republicans.

But Wagner never alerted state police to his activities in the area according to registration law, said court documents.

Wagner said he had been unaware that his volunteer work counted as a type of “employment” that he had to register, said court documents.

Wagner pleaded no-contest in 1999 to sexual battery, said online Mahoning County court information. In Ohio, no-contest is a guilty plea for sentencing purposes. His victims included two boys. He spent May 1999 through April 2000 in Ohio state prison.

Because Wagner was an Ohio sex offender and did not report his involvement in Mercer County volunteerism, he never showed up in the Pennsylvania sex offender registry. The Ohio registry also did not mention his work in Pennsylvania.

Wagner was “outed” last April when a WFMJ viewer recognized him on a piece about the Sankofa House and alerted the television station. The station told Ms. Moss-McDougall, and the information eventually made its rounds to Republicans. The Herald was alerted via anonymous phone message.

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