Funeral Scofflaw

This story originally appeared on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007

WEST CHESTER — Seventy five dollars.

That’s all that Douglas Daniel “Dusty” Ditmer had to pay each month to live up to his end of a bargain he made with the family of the man he killed 10 years ago in a violent crash in the center of West Chester after a night of drinking at a borough bar.

The money would have gone to reimburse the funeral costs that William Lynch Jr.’s family had paid to see him buried at the Philadelphia Memorial Gardens in Frazer. But despite repeated promises to the judges overseeing his case, Ditmer continues to fall short of that goal, causing frustration among court officials and anguish in the East Goshen home where his wife and daughter live today.

Probation officers and prosecutors are set to go to a court once again to convince Judge Phyllis Steitel that Ditmer, an itinerant worker who has a record of sporadic payments for other legal obligations, including care for his 5-year-old daughter, is once again in contempt of the court’s restitution schedule. But this time it may be harder to collect, since Ditmer’s whereabouts are unknown.

“Part of our job is to help make the victim whole, and that means getting the restitution paid,” said Christopher Murphy, Chester County’s chief probation officer, in a discussion of the generalities surrounding Ditmer’s case. “It’s offensive if defendants don’t pay it, especially if its money for a funeral. It really reopens old wounds, and the victims have to go through (the case) all over again.”

Lynch’s family agrees.

“We feel like every time we have to contact the district attorney’s office to tell them that he’s fallen behind again, that we are victimized over and over again,” said Sandra Lynch, William Lynch’s 49-year-old daughter. “It’s been a real hardship on my mom financially.”

Ditmer, now 31, owes $5,497. He has not made a payment since May, when he was threatened with six months in prison if he did not pay.

“We put him in a holding cell and he eventually came up with $200,” said Craig Geisel, the adult probation officer in charge of collections, describing the last time Ditmer was brought to court. “We haven’t seen anything from him since.”

Ditmer’s saga began the morning of March 8, 1997, when West Chester police were dispatched to an accident at the intersection of North High and West Chestnut streets about 4:40 a.m.

As was described in the arrest affidavit charging Ditmer, he was driving between 56 and 69 mph when he collided with the driver’s side of Lynch’s 1992 Honda. He knocked the car into the parking lot of a pizza parlor once located at the intersection, the impact of the crash causing severe injuries to Lynch. By the time police arrived, Lynch was dead.

In the back seat of Ditmer’s car was a bottle of Bicardi Gold rum. Under the driver’s seat was a 12 ounce bottle of Bud Light, and in the rear of the car a bottle of Milwaukee’s Best beer. Neither Ditmer nor his two passengers that night suffered more than minor injuries.

Ditmer’s blood alcohol at the time was tested as 0.17, almost twice the legal limit for driving under the influence.

Lynch, a ceramics teacher and owner of a pottery store in East Goshen, was making deliveries for the Daily Local News that morning, earning extra money to supplement his income and pension from the telephone company. March 8 was his 60th birthday, and his family, including his 92-year-old mother, was planning a large party for him.

Instead, a few days later, they watched as he was laid to rest in Frazer. His mother was beside herself, Sandra Lynch said.

“She couldn’t understand why she had to bury her son,” she said.
Six months later, Ditmer entered a guilty plea to homicide by vehicle and DUI in exchange for an agreed upon prison term of two years to 59 months in a state correctional institution.

At his sentencing hearing, Lynch’s widow, Joan Lynch, went out of her way to express forgiveness for Ditmer and to wish him good fortune after his release from prison.

“Dusty, I miss my husband very much,” Joan Lynch told her husband’s killer. “I know I will greatly miss him the rest of my life. With the Lord helping me and with all my heart, I forgive you for what you did because I know you did not do it intentionally.”

“Your future is up to you,” she continued. “I am hoping, and it is my prayer, that you will come back (from jail) a changed person, a law-abiding person, and that you can make a good contribution to your community and to society.”

Ditmer seemed to be moved by her words and apologized. “I’d like to say I’m terribly sorry to cause the pain that I did to you and your family,” he said. “I’ll do to live in God’s light and do what I can for your restitution.”

That restitution was set at $10,418.58. Upon his release from state prison, Lynch did begin paying, whittling down the amount he owed to slightly over $8,000 by early 2003. But the money was slow in coming, Sandra Lynch said. “We even had to wait one whole year for one payment,” she said.

In May 2003, at the behest of the adult probation office, now retired Judge Lawrence Wood signed an agreement with Ditmer allowing him to pay $75 per month until the balance of the restitution was paid. It was a remarkable agreement since by law Ditmer was not under the supervision of the county’s probation department. He had served state time, and was therefore responsible first to the state probation authorities.

Three years later, Ditmer was back in court on contempt proceedings, still slow in paying. He was ordered to pay $500 up front, then $100 a month for six months until he was caught up on his back payment, and then, again, at the low rate of $75 a month.

According to a petition for contempt filed last week by Assistant District Attorney Beth Bowers, after Ditmer paid $100 in July 2006 he didn’t pay anything on his account until his mother came into the probation office and paid $400 for him.

By May of this year, the arrears had stacked up again, and Ditmer was hauled before Streitel to pay $200. At the time, he signed a wage attachment for the $75 monthly payments, but shortly thereafter he was fired from his job at Target in West Whiteland and no payment was ever made on that amount.

Authorities are not hopeful of getting Ditmer in front of Streitel at a scheduled Dec. 11 hearing. According to Bowers’ contempt petition, his current whereabouts are unknown. The house listed as his last address is apparently abandoned, and his last known phone number is disconnected.

Sandra Lynch does not blame Chester County authorities for the situation with her father’s killer. She blames the system which makes the court officials intermediaries between her mother and Ditmer, and believes that the state should pay her mother’s restitution, making Ditmer liable to the court.

“He’s more likely to pay it back if he had to be responsible to the court system and not my mom,” Sandra Lynch said. “But he’s just back in court, over and over.

“My mother should not have to do this again,” she said.