Magistrate Allegedly Tried to Enter Female Jurist's Conference Hotel Room Wrapped in Bedsheet
Attending a judicial conference at a hotel near the state capital led to trouble for two Pennsylvania jurists.
Huntingdon County District Magistrate Douglas Gummo, 42, has been charged with public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and harassment after allegedly trying to enter a female judge’s hotel room three times within a 40-minute period on Friday, according to the Altoona Mirror and the Associated Press. He was reportedly found outside the room, intoxicated, unclothed and wrapped in a bedsheet when authorities arrived.
The unidentified female district magistrate, 46, “was clearly shaken” and wanted a police escort to go back to her room, the Mirror says.
Gummo, a former police chief who makes over $82,000 a year in his job as a judge, remains on the bench but has had his caseload assigned to other jurists. It isn’t clear whether he will face a judicial ethics probe over the incident. He reportedly declined to comment.
If found guilty in district magistrate court, he could be ordered to pay a fine of about $1,000.
A police report says the fellow magistrate called authorities after Gummo allegedly began banging on her door after midnight “for approximately ten minutes and attempted to turn the door knob.” He allegedly returned twice more after he was refused entry, reports the Daily Mail.
