Published May 21. 2018 08:22AM
POTTSVILLE (AP) — A former small-town Pennsylvania police chief who stepped down following profanity-laced online tirades about the Second Amendment and liberals has been spared jail time on firearms purchase convictions.
The (Pottsville) Republican Herald reports that 46-year-old former Gilberton chief Mark Kessler was ordered Thursday to spend two years on probation.
Jurors convicted the Frackville resident in April of making a false statement on a firearms application and unsworn falsification. State police said he falsely stated in May 2016 that he wasn’t charged with an offense carrying a one-year jail term even though he faced a terroristic threat charge. He said he erred on the form and his attorney vowed an appeal.
Kessler was suspended after gaining notoriety for posting videos of himself shooting borough-owned automatic weapons and cursing liberals and others.