McAdoo man leaves prison, enters Megan's Law registry

Nov. 09--POTTSVILLE -- Thomas J. Danishefsky will leave prison, but must be subject to Megan's Law sanctions for more than two decades, after admitting Wednesday to a Schuylkill County judge that he indecently assaulted a man in August 2017 in McAdoo.

Danishefsky, 79, of McAdoo, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to indecent assault of a person with a mental disability. Prosecutors withdrew charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and sexual assault.

President Judge William E. Baldwin accepted the plea and, pursuant to an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, sentenced Danishefsky to time served to 23 months in prison and granted him immediate parole. Baldwin also sentenced Danishefsky, who sat through Wednesday's hearing wearing a prison jumpsuit, to pay costs.

Furthermore, Baldwin ruled that under state law, Danishefsky is a Tier 2 sex offender and thereby subject to Megan's Law sanctions for the next 25 years.

McAdoo police charged Danishefsky with assaulting the man about 5:30 p.m.Aug. 3, 2017, at his South Cleveland Street residence. Police said Danishefsky took the man, who has Down syndrome and is learning disabled, to an upstairs bedroom and performed a sex act.

Special Deputy Attorney General Nathan L. Boob, who prosecuted the case, said the victim was 25 years old at the time of the incident.

By pleading guilty but mentally ill, Danishefsky accepted responsibility for what he had done, prosecutors acknowledged he was suffering from a mental illness and each side agreed he did not meet the definition of a legally insane person -- not knowing the difference between right and wrong at the time he committed the crime. Danishefsky will receive treatment for his mental illness as a result of the plea.

The Megan's Law sanctions to which Danishefsky will be subject require him to provide his name, address, Social Security number, telephone numbers, photograph, employment, any schools he might attend, registration of any vehicles he owns and other information to the Pennsylvania State Police for the rest of his life. Any further violation of the sanctions would be an additional crime and subject Danishefsky to another prosecution.

Megan's Law was enacted in Pennsylvania, numerous other states and at the federal level after the July 29, 1994, murder of Megan Nicole Kanka, 7, in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. Jesse Timmendequas, Kanka's killer, was one of her neighbors and a twice-convicted sex offender; his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after New Jersey enacted legislation to abolish the death penalty in that state.

Contact the writer: pbortner@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6014

The defendant

Name: Thomas J. Danishefsky

Age: 79

Residence: McAdoo

Plea: Guilty but mentally ill to indecent assault of a person with a mental disability

Prison sentence: Time served to 23 months in prison with immediate parole, plus 25 years of Megan's Law sanctions

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