Canton man waives false reports, cruelty to animals charges

TROY - A Canton man who police said fabricated a stabbing story last year in Alba has waived false reports charges to the Bradford County Court of Common Pleas, according to the office of Magisterial District Judge Jonathan Wilcox of Troy.

Joshua David Rumsey, 30, of Canton, was charged with two counts of false reports to law enforcement authorities, according to court papers. In addition, he was charged with harassment and two counts of cruelty to animals for killing a goat and a calf belonging to his ex-girlfriend and purporting the acts were done by someone else, the papers note. These charges were also waived, according to Wilcox's office.

In an affidavit, a state police trooper said that he interviewed Rumsey at 12:16 p.m. in the Dandy parking lot in Alba, and Rumsey related how an unknown person took him by surprise and assaulted him with a knife while he was outside doing work.

Also, Rumsey told the trooper that prior to the alleged stabbing incident, he found that someone had killed a farm goat. Then, on Nov. 19, the officer said he contacted Rumsey, and Rumsey said that someone had killed a calf on his ex-girlfriend's property overnight.

The trooper wrote in an affidavit, however, that during additional questioning, Rumsey admitted "there was no actor and no one had assaulted him with a knife."

"Rumsey related he had accidentally cut his hand on some roofing tin, and then he wiped his blood on the knife to make his story seem more plausible," the trooper wrote. "Rumsey related he had sustained the small puncture-styled wound on his forearm at some other time and couldn't remember how it had happened."

Although the trooper said that Rumsey admitted to fabricating the story about the stabbing, he said Rumsey denied killing the animals or making harassing phone calls to his ex-girlfriend's older, previous boyfriend.

In the affidavit, the ex-girlfriend said she believed Rumsey may have been fabricating his whole story in an attempt to get her back.

Rumsey waived the charges during a recent preliminary hearing, according to Wilcox's office.