Bedbugs blamed for Palin stalker's disappearance from halfway house

Bedbug bites helped drive a 21-year-old McAdoo man from a halfway house where he had been ordered to stay for harassing former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, his father said Thursday.

Shawn Christy walked out of the Scranton Catholic Charity Center on Nov. 20 because he received more than 300 bedbug bites, his father, Craig Christy, said when explaining the family's version of events that led U.S. Marshals to arrest their son Wednesday.

"They just blew the story out of proportion," Craig Christy said.

The U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement that Christy fled his home and possessed a knife when deputies ran him down Wednesday morning. Deputies found him after they received a lead from authorities in Alaska.

The warrant issued for Christy said he abused a worker verbally and damaged property at the halfway house.

His father agrees partly with the statement from the Marshal's Office and the description of events in the warrant: His son had a knife, which his father said was a "tool" he was allowed to have. He also threw a soda bottle during an argument with a worker at the halfway house.

Craig Christy, however, said his son was worn out from working at a bakery and the bedbug bites when the argument began. He notified probation officers in Pennsylvania and Alaska that his son was home, and said the judge who issued the warrant also knew where the young man was.

Asked about Craig Christy's remarks, U.S. Marshal Martin J. Pane said authorities knew where Shawn Christy was, but a probation officer outlined the reasons for his apprehension in an affidavit.

The affidavit says Christy became belligerent when a search uncovered contraband - the soda and a cellphone - in his backpack. He ran to his room, kicked a hole in the wall and left the premises without permission, the affidavit says.

When Shawn Christy appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Blewitt on Wednesday afternoon, he suffered a seizure triggered by Lyme disease, his f! ather said. The judge ordered Shawn Christy to be detained until he can be sent to Alaska for further proceedings.

Craig Christy, who said marshals expelled him and his wife from the courtroom when he told them to roll his son off his back during the seizure, did not know whether his son was in a hospital Thursday.

Earlier this year, Shawn and Craig Christy pleaded guilty to making harassing telephone calls to Palin and were placed on probation. As a condition of probation, Shawn Christy was ordered in mid-July to spend six months in a halfway house. His father was allowed to live at home.

About a month ago, one of the Christys visited the Department of Licensing, Inspections and Permits in Scranton to report bedbugs in the halfway house, department Director Mark Seitzinger said.

The manager of the halfway house told the department that workers sprayed for bedbugs twice and would spray a third time to complete the extermination, Seitzinger said. Staff members at the halfway house also put pads between the box springs and mattresses as a precaution against bugs, he said.

While staying at the halfway house, Shawn Christy worked regularly, first through temporary agencies and later at a bakery, his father said.

He also obtained a high school equivalency degree and took an online psychology course because he wants to work as a counselor someday.

But the sentencing judge in Alaska never transferred Shawn Christy's probation to Pennsylvania, nor was Shawn Christy allowed early release from the halfway house or a pass to go home for Thanksgiving.

"Basically, he's been a political prisoner because of the high-profile person involved," Craig Christy said.

Since sentencing, neither he nor his son has contacted Palin, he said.

kjackson@standardspeaker.com 570-455-3636Left halfway house Nov. 20