DA: Drug suspect, probation worker intimidated witness

A Chester County drug suspect and his girlfriend, a probation department employee, are accused of trying to intimidate a witness against the accused man.

The Chester County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday Coatesville residents Kenneth "War" Wylie and Chanel Turner tracked down the witness at court and threatened him.

Turner, a 23-year-old receptionist in the Chester County Juvenile Probation Department, approached the victim - a prosecution witness in Wylie's drug case - in a courtroom at the Chester County Justice Center on Oct. 20, the day before Wylie was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing, according to prosecutors.

She told the witness, "Hey, don't show up in court tomorrow" and "War said don't come to court tomorrow," court documents say.

Wylie, 25, later came to the justice center and followed and stared at the witness, prosecutors said. The witness also told investigators that the accused drug dealer had sent him multiple electronic messages in the days prior, prosecutors said.

The victim believed the in-person communications and other messages were meant to intimidate him into not testifying.

"This incident, located within the Chester County Justice Center and involving a county employee, is a particularly brazen attempt to obstruct justice," District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement.

Turner has been arrested and terminated from her position, prosecutors said. Authorities are looking for Wylie.