Father of shooter held in green card fraud

[WhiteFeather]

Not all illegal aliens are from mexico.

Notice ALL the firearm charges, prejury and as usual lack of any prosecution.

This one has plenty to comment on.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/22272244.html

Father of shooter held in green card fraud

Federal agents arrested yesterday a Chester County man who they say lied about his membership in what authorities called an Irish terrorist organization to obtain a green card.
The arrest of Sean O'Neill, 48, of Pony Trail Drive, Willistown Township, came just days after Sean O'Neill Jr.'s release from juvenile detention for the August 2006 shooting death of his friend during a night of drinking and partying.

Sean O'Neill Sr. was held without bail yesterday in federal detention in Philadelphia. He is charged with use of a fraudulent green card, making false statements, and illegal possession of a gun silencer. A bail hearing is scheduled Wednesday.

O'Neill, the former owner of Maggie O'Neill's Irish Pub in Drexel Hill, was at the Jersey Shore on Aug. 31, 2006, when his son hosted a party without adult supervision at the family's home and fatally shot his longtime friend.

The elder O'Neill was arrested without incident at his home shortly before 6 a.m., said John Hageman, a spokesman for the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The arrest team included agents from ATF, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Pennsylvania State Police.

"Until I see the indictment, I can't comment," Vincent P. DiFabio, O'Neill's attorney, said yesterday.

A native of Coalisland, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, O'Neill was 17 when he pleaded guilty in Northern Ireland to being a member of Fianna na h'Eireann, a now-defunct radical youth group associated with the Irish Republican Army, said James Ellis, research and program director for the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.

O'Neill was sentenced to prison in Northern Ireland in 1977, but neither the U.S. Attorney's Office nor federal immigration authorities would give further information about the charges in Northern Ireland or his imprisonment.

A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland in Belfast said he could not release criminal information.

O'Neill came to the United States in January 1983 on a six-month visa. In April, he bought a .38-caliber Colt revolver. O'Neill told the gun dealer that he was born in Irving, Texas, and gave a false date of birth, a story he used to purchase at least three more guns in subsequent years, according to the federal affidavit.

In 1985, O'Neill applied for a green card, which allows permanent residency. Authorities allege that he made false statements that he had not been arrested or convicted. He denied affiliation with any anti-government groups, according to the affidavit.

The federal Immigration and Naturalization Service approved his request in 1987 and issued a green card. O'Neill renewed it twice without correcting information on his application, according to the affidavit.

O'Neill lied about his date of birth and citizenship to obtain several more weapons, including a .45-caliber Colt pistol in 1985, a 9mm semiautomatic in 1987, and a 9mm Keltec semiautomatic in 1997, according to the affidavit. He also falsely obtained a license to carry firearms and a sportsman firearm permit.

O'Neill has been arrested on weapons charges twice since he came to the United States in 1983, once by Haverford police in 1983 and again last year by state police, seven months after they searched his home in connection with his son's arrest. They found a Marlin Model 980 .22-caliber rifle with an attached Parker Hale silencer and a Ruger Model 77 rifle with a barrel threaded for a silencer. In both cases, the charges were dismissed.

Agents recovered a silencer yesterday at O'Neill's home and are checking whether it was obtained legally, Hageman said.

"You need to get permission from the chief law enforcement officer [of the township] and apply to the ATF to own a silencer," Hageman said.

Sean O'Neill Jr.'s release includes conditions that the teen must work at his father's construction company so he can pay restitution for Scott Sheridan's funeral, and that he can go out socially only when accompanied by at least one of his parents.

"We'll explore how this impacts on the conditions of Sean O'Neill Jr.'s release," said Joseph W. Carroll, Chester County district attorney, about the father's charges.

[WhiteFeather]

Another part of the same story.

These are the kinds of events that lead to more gun control laws.....

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/21931119.html

Woman enraged over release of son's killer

A former Cardinal O'Hara High School student who was ordered into juvenile treatment for fatally shooting his longtime friend was free yesterday for the first time in about nine months. The victim's mother was enraged.
Chester County Court Judge Thomas G. Gavin accepted counselors' recommendations Wednesday for Sean Owen O'Neill Jr., 19, and released him from a residential treatment program in Western Pennsylvania.

O'Neill initially was charged as an adult in the Sept. 1, 2006, shooting that killed Scott Sheridan, 17, of West Chester. But Gavin ruled in July 2007 that O'Neill belonged in the juvenile system.

Sheridan's mother strongly opposed the decision.

"This proves you can kill someone and get away with it; I think it's outrageous," Sue Sheridan said.

Despite suggestions from Assistant District Attorney Renee Merion that O'Neill needed more treatment time, the judge deferred to the professionals who recommended O'Neill's discharge from the George Junior Republic facility.

Defense attorney Vincent P. DiFabio said yesterday he was confident that O'Neill would continue to progress, especially given the conditions the judge imposed.

Telling O'Neill he had "zero margin for error," Gavin said the teen must work at his father's construction company so he can pay $1,000 a month toward the $18,000 he owes in restitution, including the Sheridans' funeral expenses. O'Neill can go out socially only when accompanied by at least one of his parents, the judge said.

O'Neill was ordered to meet weekly with his probation officer and continue mental-health treatment. He also cannot drink or use drugs and must submit to random drug tests, the judge ordered.

DiFabio said that once the judge moved the case to the juvenile system, the focus turned from punishment to treatment for "significant depression and serious drug and alcohol problems."

"Those issues have been fully addressed and a good foundation has been laid," DiFabio said.

Police were called to the O'Neill's Willistown Township home on Aug. 31, 2006, after O'Neill had hosted an unchaperoned drinking party for friends. Sometime that night, he pulled his father's loaded .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from under a mattress.

By 2 a.m., after O'Neill and some friends had driven around and shot the gun at cars, they returned to the O'Neill driveway, where O'Neill began pointing the weapon, which fired, hitting Sheridan in the face.

[GunLawyer001]

In case anyone needed further evidence, this shows that when the parents break the law and get away with it for years, the kids will be lawless, too.

I wonder if the illegal lying immigrant terrorist wonders where his kid picked up the habits? Drunken underage parties, stealing dad's gun, driving around shooting a .45 at random cars, then ending by shooting his friend dead.

As they led the dad away in cuffs for his years of falsifications to the government, I wonder if he was disappointed in the kid.

[WhiteFeather]

Look the courts give out more time for probation violations than firearm charges

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/a.../29993264.html

Pa. teen who killed friend violates probation

The Associated Press

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - A southeastern Pennsylvania teenager who shot and killed a friend during a drinking party faces time in a youth forestry camp for violating probation.

Chester County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Gavin sentenced 19-year-old Sean O'Neill Jr. of Willistown on Tuesday to Youth Forestry Camp 2 in Carbon County.

O'Neill was on probation after serving time as a juvenile for the September 2006 shooting death of 17-year-old Scott Sheridan. The judge says two nights spent at his girlfriend's home violated a requirement that he leave his own home only for school, work, or in the company of his parents.

O'Neill was adjudicated delinquent on charges including involuntary manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm in Sheridan's death. They and other youths were drinking at O'Neill's home while his parents were away.

[WhiteFeather]

What is with this family?

Goes back to GunLawyer001 comments

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/28593639.html

Montgomery County to charge driver in fatal I-476 crash
Sep. 18, 2008

A Montgomery County prosecutor said yesterday that he expected to file charges in connection with a deadly crash on the Blue Route last week.
Kevin Steele, Montgomery County's first assistant district attorney, declined to elaborate on the specific offenses or a time frame for charging the driver, Roisin O'Neill, 22, of Newtown Square.

O'Neill was driving a Ford Escape SUV north in the southbound lanes of I-476 in Plymouth Township shortly before 1 a.m. on Friday when she drove head-on into a Mazda 6 driven by Patricia Murphy Waggoner, 63, of Brimfield, Mass., authorities said.

Waggoner was pronounced dead at the scene. She was 20 minutes from her destination - the Media home of two of her grandchildren - when the collision occurred, said her son, Jeff Waggoner of Atlanta.

O'Neill, who was flown to Temple University Hospital after the crash, was discharged yesterday, a hospital spokesman said.

The fatal accident brought her family into the news for the third time in the last two years.

Her brother, Sean Owen O'Neill Jr., accidentally shot and killed a friend, 17-year-old Scott Sheridan, during an unchaperoned, underage drinking party at the family's Willistown Township home in August 2006.

Sean O'Neill was released from a juvenile detention center in June, where he had been ordered into treatment in connection with the shooting. He is due back in court on Sept. 30 for an alleged bail violation, according to court schedules. The bail petition is not public record because O'Neill is a juvenile, court officials said.

The siblings' father, Sean O'Neill Sr., a former restaurant owner who runs a successful construction company, is also free on bail. He was arrested in June by federal agents who said he lied repeatedly about his membership in what authorities called an Irish terrorist organization to obtain a green card and purchase firearms, including an illegal silencer.

Sean O'Neill Sr., who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, was granted bail on July 31, using his home on Pony Trail Drive as surety for a $2.5 million bail bond, according to court records.

Vincent P. DiFabio, the O'Neills' lawyer, could not be reached for comment.

Jeff Waggoner said his family had been inundated with condolences and tributes to his mother, a fun-loving, high-energy graphic artist.

"She touched so many people," he said, adding that her love for her children and grandchildren was the motivation for many of her travels and activities.

Jeff Waggoner said his mother, who was born in Dayton, Ohio, attended Antioch University from 1971 to 1976 and then the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, where she earned a bachelor's degree in art in 1981. She was working as a senior designer for Metropolitan Life Insurance when she died.

Karen Ancas-Santos, a longtime friend and former coworker, said Waggoner's death left a painful void for many people.

"She had a presence that was transcendent. She was smart, witty, charming, talented, and always giving," said Ancas-Santos. "It was just her nature, and she did it with grace and style I have never witnessed before or since."

[Ramtuff]

The son has also violated his probation conditions.

http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?...id=17782&rfi=8

Teenage shooter violates probation
By JOE LANGDON, Staff Writer
10/01/2008

WEST CHESTER — The teenager who killed his friend during a drunken incident at a house party in 2006 was sentenced Tuesday for violating probation.

Sean Owen O'Neill Jr., 19, of Willistown, who served time as a juvenile for the shooting death of Scott Sheridan, was found to have violated his probation. At a hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Gavin, he was sentenced to Youth Forestry Camp 2 in Carbon County for "a period of time the camp deems appropriate."

Assistant District Attorney Renee Merion said O'Neill will have a hearing at the camp after six months, but he could serve a shorter term depending on his behavior.

Under terms of his probation, O'Neill was permitted to leave his home only for school, work, official appointments or in the company of his parents. O'Neill's parents reported to a probation officer that he spent two nights at his girlfriend's home.

"I indicated there would be zero tolerance for violation of the court order," Gavin said.

Defense attorney Vincent P. DiFabio said O'Neill's actions were the direct result of hardships engulfing the

O'Neill family. Just days after O'Neill's release in June, his father, Sean O'Neill Sr., was arrested and served five weeks in prison for weapons offenses and immigration violations stemming from his former ties to an illegal organization in his native Northern Ireland.

And on Sept. 12, O'Neill's sister was injured in a fatal crash in Montgomery County. Charges are pending against Roisin O'Neill, 22, in the death of a Massachusetts woman killed in the crash.

"He did a remarkable job keeping his house together," DiFabio said. "He was the rock of the house for those five weeks (of his father's imprisonment)."

O'Neill's mother and father addressed the court to ask for leniency.

"I beg the court to allow him to stay in our house," said his mother, Eileen. "I'm in desperate need of his help right now."

DiFabio said O'Neill left his home not to attend a party, but for his mental well-being, especially because he considered himself responsible for drawing the attention of law enforcement to his father.

Addressing the court, O'Neill said he left his home in violation of his probation "to keep myself sane."

"The reason I stayed away from my home is because I am directly responsible for the situation my father is in," O'Neill said. "It's hard for me to be in my house and face my family knowing what I've put them through."

Gavin said he empathized with the hardships facing the family, but he said it would have been a simple matter to ask a probation officer to arrange for time away from his home if he felt it was necessary.

The hearing was attended by several members of the Sheridan family.

"He had an opportunity," Sheridan's father, Joseph, said after the hearing. "My son never had an opportunity."

To contact staff writer Joe Langdon, send an e-mail to jlangdon@dailylocal.com.