Ex-police officer and sex offender released early after five months in prison for violating his probation

A former York City police officer and admitted child molester is free again after serving nearly the minimum term of his prison sentence for violating his probation.

Joseph Palmer Jr., 30, was released from York County Jail on parole after an order was signed authorizing his release for Tuesday, court records show.

Prison staff have confirmed he is no longer in custody.

Palmer served five months in jail after being arrested last Dec. 7 for violating the probation he was sentenced to just a few months earlier in a teen sex abuse case. He had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was given probation without jail time.

Judge Harry Ness of the York County Court of Common Pleas sentenced Palmer to six to 23 months in prison in January when Palmer decided to plead no contest to the misdemeanor charges. The time included the time he had already traveled since his arrest.

The warrant shows that the earliest date for his release was June 7, indicating that good behavior played a role in his parole. According to the order, he was not found to have committed any violations while in prison.

The teen’s father, Chris McGhee, is as angry about Palmer’s release as he is about his plea deal and original sentence.

“I am saddened that this person is facing more severe consequences for violating the terms of a ‘love agreement’ than for the actual crime committed against my daughter,” he said Tuesday. “As he moves forward, our community continues to grapple with his blatant disregard for probation rules. By knowingly entering a school environment where children were present, he potentially endangered another vulnerable individual. This pattern of betrayal of people of York are disgusting.”

McGhee referred to details of how Palmer violated his probation, including going to York County School of Technology for an evening class.

Palmer was originally charged in August 2022 after police investigated a report that he was dating a teenager, then 16 years old, whom he met while working as a juvenile officer with the York City Police Department.

Investigators alleged the situation lasted about four months, from September 2021 to about February 2022. They said Palmer inappropriately touched the teen and exchanged sexually explicit messages and images.

The family also accused him of using his position as an officer to silence the teen.

Palmer was placed on leave when the family reported the abuse in March. He resigned from the department shortly afterwards while the investigation was ongoing.

MORE: A woman’s confession sheds new light on the death of her partner at Pinchot State Park

MORE: Lawsuit claims the West Shore school board’s conservative majority violated the Sunshine Act

MORE: Man robbed at gunpoint while withdrawing money from ATM in central Hannover: police

A year after he was charged, in August 2023, Palmer pleaded guilty to one felony count of corruption of minors, admitting sexual activity with a minor.

Prosecutors dismissed five other charges — indecent assault on a minor, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, unlawful sexual communication with a minor, child pornography and having sexual images of a minor on a computer — as part of the agreement.

Palmer was sentenced to five years probation. No prison sentence was imposed at the time.

At the time, Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow said the agreement had failed the family, and Judge Ness later admitted he had struggled to accept the agreement.

Palmer was out of jail for four months before being jailed on Dec. 7 for violating probation conditions.

He admitted in January that he had accessed the internet outside the limits and that he had attended York Tech without first asking permission from his probation officer.

According to court arguments, he once went to campus to attend an evening diesel mechanics class for adults while working on a commercial driver’s license.

Ness ordered Palmer to serve the six-to-23-month prison sentence, followed by three years of probation. It is unclear how the new sentence interacts with the original sentence.

York County Probation Department staff did not return a message requesting information.

Palmer was also again ordered to complete sex offender treatment. He can use a GPS device for work, but he is not allowed to have a cell phone, as unsupervised Internet use is not allowed, court documents show.

Upon his release from York County Prison, he is expected to return to his current home in Carlisle, Cumberland County, according to the parole order. However, the sentence calls for him to be allowed to transfer his probation to Adams County.

>> Consider subscribing to support local journalism.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at [email protected] or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.

Related Posts