It should come as no surprise to my regular readers that the most infamous resident of Pennsylvania’s Rockdale Township, Edward Gingerich, 42, is back in the news yet again. For those not familiar with Gingerich, he is the first Amish man to ever have been convicted of murder. His crimes, however, did not end at mariticide. After serving a laughable two and one-half years for murdering his wife, Gingerich was arrested again in April 2007, for concealment of the whereabouts of a child and criminal conspiracy. Gingerich is again in trouble with the law, this time for illegal possession of a firearm.

According to state police, Gingerich, who is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm, was hunting with a gun on November 26, 2007. On Feb. 12, Vernon Township District Judge Michael Rossi arraigned Gingerich on a second-degree felony for possessing a firearm and ordered him to be held in the Crawford County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bond.

It was just four months ago that Gingerich entered a “no-contest” plea to criminal conspiracy when he concealed the whereabouts of a child, a second-degree misdemeanor. During his sentencing hearing, on December 5, 2007, Gingerich was sentenced to six months’ probation and ordered to pay a $500 fine.

His charges in that case stemmed from an incident that occurred in April 2007, when he accosted his estranged 17-year-old daughter and took her to a camp in McKean County, where state police later found them. As a result of the incident, Gingerich was excommunicated from his Amish community.

“Anybody from the Brownhill Amish who accepts Ed will be shunned,” said John Otto, a New Order Amish man living in Crawford County, in a recent interview with the Post-gazette.com.

Gingerich first became known to police in March 1993, when, in the presence of his young children, he murdered his wife and gutted her, placing her lungs, kidneys, stomach, liver, spleen, bladder, uterus, and heart in a pile next to her body.

Two years later, a jury found Gingerich guilty of involuntary manslaughter. But, the jury also found that Gingerich was mentally ill. As a result, he was sentenced to a minimum of two and one-half years and a maximum of five, with credit for time served.

Gingerich was released from prison on March 19, 1998. Following his release, Gingerich moved to a community for troubled Amish in Evart, Michigan, where he remained until in December 2006, when he moved to a psychiatric center in Goshen, Indiana. Gingerich stayed at the center approximately one month before returning to Pennsylvania.

Gingerich is scheduled to appear in court again on February 21, for a preliminary hearing regarding his most recent charge. If convicted, Gingerich faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Given his past history, I doubt this is the last we will hear of Edward Gingerich.