rachelh@myweeklysentinel.com
TOWANDA — The Attorney General's office is petitioning to use six victim testimonies in the case against Salsman.
On Feb. 3, Salsman was charged by PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office for multiple counts of sexual assault and related charges.
One victim testified that she had a consensual relationship with Salsman form 2012 to 2013. She said during this time, she received a sexually transmitted disease from him, in which he blamed her for the disease. She alleged that when the relationship ended, he allegedly sent nude pictures of the victim to her boyfriend at the time “in an attempt to ruin her for crossing him.” He allegedly involved a former secretary in that effort, according to the documents, to which the former secretary testifies to.
In another testimony, Salsman allegedly paid about $1,000 for videos of her in a “stage of undress or engaged in sexual acts.” Salsman represented this victim in a DUI case in 2017.
The third victim reported that Salsman allegedly asked to see her breasts on a drive to her house after paying off a constable who arrested her. She repeatedly told him no. She says he allegedly sat outside her house until she was forced to leave through a back door to avoid him. He allegedly gave her $9,578.68 in total for nude photos or videos. When she refused to continue sending videos and photos and have sex with him, he sued her civilly for the amount and claimed on his court filing it was a “loan.”
Salsman represented another in a child custody case and also hired her as his part-time secretary. He refunded a portion of the money from her case and did not bill her. He allegedly sent her a naked picture of himself and gave her gifts. She declined to have sex with him. He allegedly sued her for $1,893.19 in legal fees until in April 2018, she threatened to show the nude photo of him.
The last victim to testify noted that she lost a family member and was distraught and abusing alcohol to cope with the pain of losing someone. Salsman allegedly contacted her through social media to send condo lances. He allegedly began discussing sexual acts with her while she was intoxicated and asked her to send a nude video of herself drunk and behaving sexually in a bathtub. He allegedly shared this with another victim and allegedly admitted he sent this video in a recorded conversation with the other victim.
“These victims were shocked, ashamed and embarrassed by the conduct of a trusted lawyer and member of the community,” the documents writes, “In most cases, the Defendants conduct made these women afraid and fearful.”
The document alleges these type of behaviors from Salsman have been present for the past eight years.
However, the charges presented by these testimonies have spanned from September 2017 to December 2020.
“He held intimate private knowledge of each victim and intimidated or threatened each victim to not disclose his conduct. He had nonconsensual sexual intercourse with the victims on his desk at his law office or in exchange for legal services,” the document reads.
The past couple weeks, local attorneys, citizens of Bradford County and local officials have called for Salsman to resign from his position of District Attorney. According to his press release, he plans to still keep his title of District Attorney during the on-going case.
“I have turned over the trial and courtroom work to my assistants while all this is pending. I will remain as District Attorney and make policy decisions and administer the office. The Drug Task Force that I created will continue to work unabated and all the other policies and programs my administration has implemented to benefit Bradford County this past year will continue as well,” he stated in his press release statement in February.
A petition on Change.org has surfaced as well, asking for Gov. Tom Wolf to remove him from is $180,000 salaried position. “Those who have signed this petition are requesting that the Pennsylvania Senate and Governor Tom Wolf take the steps necessary to remove Chad Salsman from office for committing willful misconduct while in office by intimidating witnesses to the grand jury and, according to the testimony of one victim, raping her after being elected as the District Attorney. Also for multiple criminal and ethical violations as a lawyer prior to being elected. While removal of an elected official is difficult in Pennsylvania, it can be done. The people of this county deserve better than to be subjected to a D.A. who has committed ethical violations for over a decade to continue to stain our courthouse and justice system,” the petition reads.
“Chad Salsman would regularly use his position and power as an attorney to coerce his victims into performing sexual acts on him,” Shapiro said in a statement. “He would bring them into his private office, under the guise of discussing their case, and used his knowledge of his clients’ vulnerabilities to negate their consent and sexually assault them.”
Salsman has exclaimed his innocence throughout this entire process.
Salsman’s hearing will be held on Friday, April 16, at 10 a.m. in courtroom number one of the Bradford County Courthouse. The hearing is open to the public; however, social distancing guidelines will be in place.