Kenneth Wanamaker Jr. reached a plea deal in three cases involving the same woman.
Kenneth Wanamaker (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)
A man who served jail time for letting his daughter's teeth rot admitted Monday to assaulting his then-girlfriend and then trying to keep her from testifying against him.
Kenneth Wanamaker Jr., who previously lived in Walnutport, but said he will be living with his father in Northampton Borough, pleaded guilty to simple assault, defiant trespass and intimidation of a witness.
As part of the plea deal, Wanamaker was sentenced to six months to one year in jail, followed by four years of probation. Wanamaker has been in jail for almost two months, and is eligible for work release with his landscaping business.
Judge Kelly Banach ordered Wanamaker to complete a batterer's program, and said a no contact order with the victim was zero tolerance; if Wanamaker contacted the woman, he would go to sate prison.
The deal came together on Monday after the judge denied a request to reset bail in Wanamaker's three cases all involving the ex-girlfriend. His bail was revoked in one case after his arrest in another.
The woman said she and Wanamaker were in a relationship for 16 months. During that time, state police estimated they were called about 60 times for incidents involving the couple, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Ned Muir.
The ex said she thought Wanamaker was changing for the better, "but I found out he wasn't."
The woman claimed Wanamaker repeatedly called child protective services on her, and that her 6-year-old son would be pulled out of class as the accusations were investigated, and then eventually deemed unfounded.
Wanamaker fractured her nose twice, and would sit outside her house, the woman told the judge.
Banach asked the woman why she put up with Wanamaker's abuse.
"I tried not to," she said.
"Nobody should put up with that," Banach said. "Nobody deserves to be treated like that. You need to take better care of yourself and your child."
Wanamaker apologized in court, but said there where "two sides to every story."
"I think the best thing will be to keep our distance," he said.
Pennsylvania State Police said Wanamaker Jr. assaulted the woman Feb. 13 at her home in Hanover Township, Lehigh County.
Dad who let child's teeth rot accused of intimidating assault victim from jail
Wanamaker told the woman he wanted to talk to her in her backyard, and the woman armed herself with a bat "for her own protection due to previous violent encounters with Wanamaker," state police said.
Wanamaker told the woman to drop the bat and, when she didn't, he kicked her below the knee, pushed her to the ground and punched her in the face, troopers said.
Wanamaker pleaded guilty to assault in that case.
On April 12, while free on 10 percent of $10,000 bail, Wanamaker went to the victim's home and was screaming and yelling while banging on the doors and windows.
State police were called, and Wanamaker was found hiding in a shed attached to the victim's home, troopers said. Wanamaker pleaded guilty to defiant trespass in that case.
Wanamaker was ordered to have no contact with the victim in those cases, but the day after he was arraigned, Wanamaker made numerous calls to the victim while in the county lockup.
During the calls, Wanamaker instructed and then demanded the victim to ignore any requests to appear in court. Wanamaker told the victim to lie about her statements to police and tell them "nothing happened," investigators said.
In the calls, Wanamaker calls the victim derogatory names, asks her if she is "f----d up in the head," and then tells her he will arrange a meeting with his public defender to plan out her false testimony, authorities said.
Muir played a portion of one call in court on Monday. In the call from jail, Wanamaker can be heard yelling at the woman about which incident were related to the criminal charges.
Wanamaker call the woman a vulgar word that rhymes with punt, then tells her he loves her.
"We can get through this," Wanamaker says in the call, before telling the woman to lie about the assault "or else just don't show up at all" to court.
Wanamaker pleaded guilty to intimidation of a witness in that case.
Northampton County father pleads guilty in neglect of daughter's teeth
In 2015, Wanamaker was sentenced to 30 days to 18 months in Northampton County Prison after pleading guilty to child endangerment.
Prosecutors said Wanamaker and the girl's mother let their 6-year-old daughter's teeth deteriorate without treatment. The girl suffered from 14 abscessed teeth, which a dentist said was the worst case of dental disease he'd ever seen.
Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
