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Sam Shepard, Pulitzer-winning playwright, is dead at 73

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Happy birthday Heaven Leigh Pennino!

<p>JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) &#8212; A Pennsylvania man arrested last year outside New York with a vehicle full of weapons on a self-described mission to rescue a Wilkes-Barre teenager from a drug den pleaded guilty Monday to weapons charges, but said he would do it all again to save someone&#8217;s life.</p><p>John Cramsey, of East Greenville, Montgomery County, and two associates were arrested outside the Holland Tunnel. He told authorities they were going to rescue 16-year-old Janea Patterson, who died in January of an overdose, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/629313/father-teen-at-center-of-ill-fated-nyc-rescue-dead-from-od" target="_blank">according to her father</a>.</p><p>Cramsey, who owns a gun store, made a Facebook post shortly before his arrest, saying the group was headed to Brooklyn to &#8220;extract a 16 year old girl who went up there to Party with a few friends.&#8221;</p><p>The post went on to say the teen was from Wilkes-Barre and &#8220;is scared and wants to come home. Last night she woke to find her friends body next to her in the same bed were her friend died of another heroin overdose.&#8221;</p><p>Cramsey pleaded guilty in a New Jersey courtroom to unlawful possession of a gun and possession for an unlawful purpose. Each count carries a maximum sentence of five years with no parole for a year. Cramsey&#8217;s attorney plans to seek probation.</p><p>Acquaintances say the gun range owner became an anti-drug crusader after his daughter died of an overdose. Cramsey posted online shortly before his arrest that he was heading from Pennsylvania to New York to &#8220;rescue&#8221; a girl whose friend had overdosed. His vehicle was stopped in June 2016 at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel on the New Jersey side.</p><p>Police recovered a semi-automatic, military-style rifle, a shotgun, five handguns and tactical gear.</p><p>Asked if he would do what he did again, Cramsey said after the hearing that he would but would be more careful.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a mission in memory, not just of my daughter, but of many people who&#8217;ve lost their lives,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I would have carried her out if I&#8217;d had the chance. I still would to this day. If I&#8217;d had to leave my truck there and run to get that girl, I would have.&#8221;</p><p>Patterson first made news in 2015 when she was allegedly kidnapped by her boyfriend, Walter Lewis.</p><p>State police issued an Amber Alert for Patterson after Lewis allegedly abducted her outside the Wilkes-Barre apartment where she lived on July 30, 2015. A search by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies ensued and ended with Lewis&#8217; arrest. A judge, however, was forced to withdraw kidnapping charges against Lewis when Patterson refused to testify against him.</p><p>Dean Smith, of Whitehall, and Kimberly Arendt, of Lehighton, made deals with prosecutors this year to avoid a trial. All three were charged with multiple weapons offenses.</p><p>Smith was driving Cramsey&#8217;s neon-painted truck when the group was stopped. According to police, the vehicle was pulled over because it had a crack in its windshield and had some objects hanging from a rearview mirror.</p><p>The defendants contended they were actually stopped because of the truck&#8217;s Second Amendment-themed decorations, and they sought unsuccessfully in court to have the search invalidated.</p><p>New Jersey has more stringent gun laws than Pennsylvania. It doesn&#8217;t recognize carry permits from other states, and guns in cars must be kept locked and unloaded in a trunk or secure container.</p><p>&#8220;This is an ongoing thing, I don&#8217;t stop. I don&#8217;t go looking for it, it finds me,&#8221; Cramsey said. &#8220;It&#8217;s as much a curse as it is a blessing. It consumes me every waking moment of the day.&#8221;</p><p><em>Times Leader staff writer Joe Dolinsky contributed to this report.</em></p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117783209-ac7bd1682af04dc0a3dc011b7958f03c-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">In this file photo, John Cramsey, who was pulled over outside the Holland Tunnel and found to be carrying a cache of guns last year, listens during a hearing at the Hudson County Courthouse in Jersey City, N.J. Cramsey, who told police he was heading to the city to rescue a teenage girl from a drug den, pleaded guilty Monday to weapons charges. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_117783209-ac7bd1682af04dc0a3dc011b7958f03c-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this file photo, John Cramsey, who was pulled over outside the Holland Tunnel and found to be carrying a cache of guns last year, listens during a hearing at the Hudson County Courthouse in Jersey City, N.J. Cramsey, who told police he was heading to the city to rescue a teenage girl from a drug den, pleaded guilty Monday to weapons charges. </caption0><photoCredit0>The Associated Press </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_web1_Jeanea-Patterson-amber-alert-vic-7-31-15-10-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Patterson </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_web1_Jeanea-Patterson-amber-alert-vic-7-31-15-10-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Patterson </caption1><photoCredit1>The Associated Press </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>From staff and wire reports</p></bylineMeta></div>

Man who pursued Wilkes-Barre girl to drug den admits to weapons charges