A 58-year-old Greenville woman is facing criminal charges after she allegedly chased and threatened her neighbor with a pitchfork in Otter Creek Township, dragging the tool up and down the street while declaring herself the new Freddy Krueger. Susan Shea now faces misdemeanor counts of making terroristic threats and harassment, along with summary charges of disorderly conduct and harassment, stemming from the confrontation.
According to WKRC, law enforcement responded to a home in Otter Creek Township after a man reported an ongoing disturbance. The neighbor told officers that Shea had harassed and threatened him and his son. When a responding officer arrived, he reported seeing Shea dancing with a pitchfork while yelling at the neighbor from across the road, and video reportedly showed her dragging the pitchfork along the roadway in front of the man's home.
Chickens, Threats, and a Horror Movie Reference
Shea allegedly demanded compensation for her chickens during the confrontation, though what happened to the birds was not specified in court documents, per WFMJ. The dispute escalated well beyond property damage claims: Shea allegedly threatened to burn down both the neighbor's house and his son's house with their families inside, and separately threatened to kill a dog belonging to the neighbor's son.
The most chilling line, per the report, came when Shea allegedly told the neighbor that he would have nightmares of her face, declaring that she was the new Freddy Krueger. The character has haunted American pop culture since Wes Craven's 1984 slasher film A Nightmare on Elm Street introduced the burnt, clawed villain who stalks and kills victims inside their dreams, according to Wikipedia. Shea also allegedly threatened to put the pitchfork through the neighbor if he took a step toward her.
A Second Brush With the Law
Court records show Shea was already on probation for a 2023 conviction on simple assault and disorderly conduct charges when the pitchfork incident occurred. Under Pennsylvania's Act 44 of 2023, which amended 42 Pa.C.S. § 9771 effective June 2024, individuals who pick up new criminal charges while on probation can face revocation and resentencing that includes total confinement, according to Justia Law's summary of the statute.
Terroristic threats under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706 are generally charged as a first-degree misdemeanor in Pennsylvania, carrying a potential sentence of up to five years in prison, unless the threat causes a facility evacuation or widespread public alarm, which would elevate it to a felony, per Fairlie & Lippy, P.C. The summary counts of disorderly conduct and harassment Shea also faces carry far lighter maximum exposure, up to 90 days in jail and fines of $300 to $500 per count, according to Justia Law.
Rural Policing in a Shrinking Township
Otter Creek Township, where the confrontation unfolded, is a sparsely populated rural community in Mercer County spanning 11.8 square miles. Its population fell 10.9% between the 2010 and 2020 Census counts, dropping from 589 residents to 525, according to Wikipedia's entry on the township, which was established by court decree back in 1858 after splitting off from Salem Township, per Municibid.
Like other small municipalities in the county, Otter Creek Township has no independent police force of its own and instead relies on Pennsylvania State Police Troop D, based at the Mercer Station, to handle criminal investigations and emergency response. That dependence on state troopers made the responding officer's firsthand account of Shea dragging the pitchfork through the street a key piece of evidence in building the case against her.
Shea's case will move first through Mercer County's Magisterial District Courts, part of Pennsylvania's 35th Judicial District, which handle preliminary arraignments and misdemeanor proceedings before matters advance to the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas. She is scheduled to appear in court next month to face the new charges.
Not the First Pitchfork Case This Year
The case echoes another recent confrontation Hoodline covered involving a pitchfork chase in Batman mask in Vancouver, Washington, where a 54-year-old man wearing a Batman mask chased a neighbor with a pitchfork while uttering racial slurs, ultimately facing malicious harassment charges. Whether prosecutors will move to formally revoke Shea's existing probation ahead of her October court date remains an open question.
