Patriot News (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
ANNVILLE, Pa. — The vodka-spiked Jell-O shooters downed by two teenage girls after the annual fire chiefs’ association beauty pageant led to charges against a former fire chief, police said.
Paul Longenecker, who was suspended as chief of Union Hose Fire Company after the incident, was charged Monday with furnishing alcohol to two girls ages 17 and 18 after a county fire chiefs association beauty pageant in October.
Longenecker, 40, of Annville, was accused of giving shots to two girls at the Annville fire station after the pageant at the Lebanon Valley Mall, in which one of the girls was a contestant, according to court records.
Longenecker, who was also charged with corruption of minors, was accused of encouraging one of the girls to give police false information during the investigation, records state.
Nate Greenawalt, fire company president, said Longenecker was suspended from the fire company for 30 days in November when the company learned of the alleged incident.
The girls, who had been junior firefighters, were also suspended.
Longenecker remains active as a volunteer firefighter in the company. He could have run again as chief after the suspension, but declined to do so, Greenawalt said. Matt Clements was elected chief, starting Jan. 1.
The girls have moved from the area and are no longer active in the company, Greenawalt said.
Longenecker, who had been the chief for about six years, said he had no comment regarding the charges.
“This was an unfortunate situation that occurred” and was treated as an internal personnel issue, Greenawalt said. “We felt it was a mistake, and because it was a personnel issue in an organization, we felt what we did was right and that it did not warrant going to the authorities.”
He said he doesn’t know how police became involved in the case.
Longenecker was chief for about six years and a fire company volunteer most of his life.
In the criminal complaint, state police said Longenecker told them he had made a bad decision and got Jello shooters to share with people at the fire station after the pageant.
Coordinated by the Lebanon County Firefighters Association, the pageant concludes by choosing a fire prevention queen and princess from three to five girls ages 14 through 18, said Carl Bachman, president of the association.
“It’s unfortunate that this happened,” Bachman said. “It has nothing to do with how the pageant is run or what the firefighters association promoted.”
Longenecker told police he bought the shots from a woman, and didn’t know for certain whether they contained alcohol, although he expected they would, records state.
Police said Longenecker told them he thought the girls each had about three shooters, but one of the girls said she had five or six, records state.
The girls said that Longenecker had asked them to tell police there had only been about a dozen shots available, and one said he asked her to tell police she took them herself, rather than that he had given them to her, records state.
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