State prison counselor sentenced for delivering obscene materials to male inmate

Judy D.J. Ellich, The Daily American
·2 min read

SOMERSET — Laurie Semelsberger, 61, of Ebensburg, who worked as a psychological services associate at the State Correctional Institution at Somerset, was sentenced Wednesday afternoon for delivering obscene materials to a male inmate she counseled there.

She received 36 months probation and a $400 fine.

Where the incident occurred involving defendant, Laurie Semelsberger.
Where the incident occurred involving defendant, Laurie Semelsberger.

Semelsberger had nothing to say at her sentencing. Her attorney, Arthur McQuillan, of Johnstown, told the sentencing judge, Scott Bittner, that Semelsberger voluntarily proffered her counseling license.

"She will no longer be employed in that profession," he said.

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According to court documents, the alleged relationship between Semelsberger and the inmate began in October 2021. The relationship was discovered through an investigation in August of the following year after more than 700 calls were made between the inmate and a number identified as one being used by Semelsberger. The phone calls were over an eight-month period beginning in January.

During the investigation, intimate photos of Semelsberger were found in the inmate's cell.

The inmate, then a 37-year-old inmate is serving a 12- to 24-year sentence for conspiracy and robbery. He was the driver in an armed street robbery by two men riding in the vehicle. He was sentenced in November 2011, according to DOC records. The inmate has not been charged in this matter.

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Initially, Semelsberger was charged last November by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence with institutional sexual assault, a felony, and lesser graded misdemeanors of official oppression, obstructing administration of law or other governmental function and obscene and other sexual materials and performances.

After a plea agreement, Semelsberger pleaded guilty to delivering obscene material to a state prison, a first-degree misdemeanor, according to court records.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset prison counselor sentenced for delivering obscene materials to inmate