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Patricia Fowler gets probation, but whereabouts of missing twins remains unsolved

Nate Guidry/Post-Gazette

Patricia Fowler gets probation, but whereabouts of missing twins remains unsolved

Investigators interviewed everyone they could think of: from family members to neighbors to caseworkers.

They pulled CYF court records and school records and medical records.

But in the end, they still couldn’t find Ivon and Inesha Fowler.

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And so, the mother of those twins, who would be 18 years old now, will serve probation.

Patricia Fowler, 48, reached an agreement with the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office: In exchange for a guilty plea to charges of endangering the welfare of a child, unsworn falsification and public assistance false statements, she would receive a term of probation.

As part of that plea, too, the DA’s office agreed that it would withdraw charges of obstruction against Fowler’s son, Datwon Fowler, 19, who pretended to be his missing brother early on in the police investigation, he said, so that detectives would leave his family alone.

Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty ordered Patricia Fowler to serve a total of four years probation and pay nearly $57,000 in restitution for receiving public assistance for years on behalf of her two missing children, whose whereabouts have been unknown for more than 10 years.

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The criminal investigation began just last year after Penn Hills police were informed by caseworkers with the Allegheny County Office of Children, Youth and Families that the twins could not be located.

Fowler has told investigators differing stories about what happened to them, including that they had gone to live with a relative in the south and that she had sold them.

Allegheny County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough said Monday afternoon that the missing persons investigation is ongoing.

“We need more information, and hopefully, as time goes on, it will spur someone to come forward with additional information,” he said. “We’re not going to quit on it.”

Supt. McDonough noted that police officers did not know the children were missing for a decade.

“This wasn’t an easy investigation,” he said. “Our detectives started in a hole. It’s been frustrating from that point.”

The DA’s office initially charged Patricia Fowler with obstruction and concealing the whereabouts of a child, but Judge Flaherty threw out those counts in May based on a motion by Fowler’s defense attorney, Aaron Sontz.

Mr. Sontz argued that those initial charges were inappropriate because the prosecution could not prove the twins were abused or endangered by his client, and that there was never a child-abuse investigation for her to obstruct.

Further, he argued that the charge of concealing the whereabouts of a child also did not fit because the law required that the child be concealed from a parent or guardian. In Fowler’s case, he said, there was no victim, as the twins’ father was in prison and didn’t know they were missing.

Judge Flaherty agreed, leaving only the charge of unsworn falsification. As part of the plea agreement, the DA’s office amended back one endangering charge, that Fowler violated a duty of care, and failed to account for the child’s whereabouts.

“Today’s plea was part of a process, and we will not consider that process complete until we determine what happened to those two children,” said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the prosecution.

Datwon Fowler appeared before Judge Flaherty briefly after his mother pleaded guilty.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Goldfarb informed the court that she was withdrawing the charges against him as part of the agreement with Patricia Fowler.

Richard McCague, who represented Datwon Fowler, said his client was pleased to put the case behind him. Mr. McCague would not go so far, however, as to question the prosecution’s decision to charge him.

“It’s not a good idea to second-guess the DA’s office. They do law differently, and it was perfectly reasonable in their mindset,” he said.

Datwon Fowler, Mr. McCague continued, loves his mother, but has a strained relationship with her. He hasn’t seen the twins since he was a young child.

Mr. McCague asked the court to allow his client, who works two jobs, to seek expungement of his court record without having to pay court costs. Judge Flaherty asked the attorney to file a motion to that effect before ruling.

Paula Reed Ward: pward@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2620 or on Twitter: @PaulaReedWard.

First Published: July 18, 2017, 12:20 p.m.
Updated: July 18, 2017, 1:20 p.m.

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