BLAIR COUNTY, Pa. — A woman is facing charges for calling state police officers and threatening them with witchcraft if they didn’t drop drug charges against her grandson.
State police told WTAJ that Celestia Barker III called the police while she was at the hospital on March 27 to ask them to drop felony charges filed against her grandson. She allegedly told police that her grandson only had a small amount of marijuana and a pipe.
Barker is accused of asking the officer on the phone if he “had it in his heart” to drop the charges, and when the officer said no, Barker allegedly told the officer he would be in jeopardy because she practices “witch” activities, according to court paperwork obtained by The Altoona Mirror. When she was told that threatening an officer is a crime, Barker allegedly said she was just making statements.
The officer hung up on Barker, but investigators said she called back repeatedly. One time, police said she spoke with a dispatcher for 23 minutes and said she would use “white witchery” on the officer if the charges against her grandson weren’t dropped, WTAJ reported. Barker is accused of saying that she practices “white witchery” and that the police “best be looking over their shoulder,” WTAJ reported.
When state police contacted Barker about the threats, she told investigators she wasn’t threatening the officer, just giving an ultimatum the way her grandson was given, The Altoona Mirror reported.