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A retired Whitehall Township, PA attorney accused of thrice trying to run down his neighbor and pet cat admitted to having stopped taken his medication for mental illness at the time of the incidents.
Robert Creem, 70, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to two counts of aggravated assault.
The former attorney had previously been arrested on May 31 after twice attempting to mow down sports handicapper Dale “The Philly Prince” Stickel, who at the time was walking a cat. Neither were injured.
While out on bail on July 26, Creem tried for a third time to run Stickle over with his car.
Stickel told police at the time that Creem stopped and said, "You're dead, I'm putting a contract on your head," according to court records.
In court Thursday, Judge Kelly L. Banach referenced a 20-page psychological report that detailed Creem's 30-year battle with bipolar disease.
In accepting Creem's plea, Banach agreed that, at the time of the crime, Creem lacked the substantial capacity to understand his behavior was wrong.
Creem's attorney, David Vaida, said his client is now receiving proper medication and is looking forward to putting the case behind him.
"He was living alone, and that was part of the problem. There was no one to remind him to take his medication," Vaida said, suggesting Creem could now move in with his family and presumably away from Stickel.
Creem, who previously practiced personal injury law and had his license revoked in 2015, remains in the county jail while awaiting sentencing.
Gambling911.com is yet to reach out to either Stickel or Creem, however, the victim shed light on what set his neighor off in an earlier interview with this website.
"Creem lives next door to me," Stickel said. "Last Halloween, he put out little baskets of candy all over the neighborhood for all the kids in the neighborhood, and invited them to a Halloween party at his home. It was really creepy, this old guy inviting all these kids over to his house. He's some kind of pervert.
"I have kids of my own, so I found this really disturbing," Stickel continued. "So I called the police. They came over and confiscated all the baskets, and talked to Creem, but didn't arrest him because he hadn't committed any crime. Ever since, Creem has had a problem with me."
Stickel also said Creem is angry at him because Creem was recently kicked out of a local strip club for causing a disturbance, and the bouncer who kicked Creem out is Stickel's son.
"Creem tried to steal money from a stripper," Stickel said. "He got caught and my son threw him out of the club. Creem got really angry about that."
Stickel had previously told Gambling911 he would be purchasing a gun out of fear for his life....a good move considering Creem attempted to kill him three times and will soon be out of prison with no known safeguards to prevent him from trying for a fourth time.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
