Butler County Veterans Treatment Court

Butler County Veterans Treatment Court started in 2012 "to address the growing number of veterans involved in the criminal justice system", and its handbook - revised January 5, 2026, the published rule - sets the programme: sobriety, recovery and stability "through a coordinated response involving Butler County's Judges, Court Administration, the District Attorney, Public Defender, Adult Probation, the Mental Health Program, Domestic Relations, County Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs", with veteran volunteers on the Treatment Team and as mentors. Judge John C. Scialabba presides; the county's 2026 budget actions carry President Judge Dr. S. Michael Yeager's judicial signatures. Chief County Probation Officer Douglas E. Ritson (724-284-5259); Specialty Courts Coordinator Amy Petricca; the programme's probation officer is Tammy Courson (724-431-2158, [email protected], fax 724-285-8762), and the Butler VA's Veterans Justice Outreach team - Coordinator Christie Lucas (878-271-6161) and Specialist Kelly Fulmer (878-271-6155) - follows each participant weekly. Who. Applications are reviewed case by case; the handbook sets no charge-category or discharge test. The referral form asks the branch, dates of service, discharge status (honourable, general, bad conduct, other) and combat-theatre service, and must carry a psychiatric or psychological evaluation completed within the last two years. The term is a minimum two-year commitment, shaped by the plea agreement and progress; termination or withdrawal leads to sentencing "in accordance to the full range of punishment". The rules. Appear as scheduled (initially bi-weekly), follow the treatment plan, and submit to random drug and alcohol testing at a minimum of twice per week in every phase - rapid urinalysis, patches, oral fluid and portable breath tests, with laboratory confirmation at the participant's cost if positive; a refused, altered or missed test is a positive, and falsifying a sample is itself a charge under 18 Pa.C.S. 7509. Addictive medications are prohibited; buprenorphine, methadone and medical marijuana are case-by-case with court forms; naltrexone is permitted; no vitamins or supplements and no poppy seeds. Probation contacts run from three a week at the start, verifying employment, self-help meetings, fines payments and abstinence; the VJO coordinates VA treatment. Phase I alone, minimum three months, requires 30 hours of community service, ninety consecutive days of sobriety and recording the DD-214; Phase IV adds the graduation assignment; aftercare is the sentenced probation. Incentives run from gift cards on phase advancement to later curfews; sanctions from verbal admonishment to jail, with therapeutic responses instead of sanctions when the participant is otherwise compliant. How. Referral on the county's Veterans Treatment Court referral form through defence counsel, the District Attorney or the court; the court's site posts the referral form, the handbook and a mentor programme handbook (revised August 26, 2024), under which mentors are honorably discharged veterans who submit a DD-214 or DD-215 and are court-trained. "VTC has no additional costs for the County or the program participants."