Union County court moves two criminal cases closer to trial

Juries were picked Monday in two unrelated Union County criminal cases, pushing both matters out of pretrial maneuvering and closer to the point where testimony will be heard and verdicts could follow.

One of the cases centers on Timothy Alan Dowhower, 44, of Conley Road in Mifflinburg, who is scheduled to appear in Union County Court on June 22, 23 and 24. Dowhower faces seven felony charges, including three counts of aggravated indecent assault of a person. The trial dates put the case back on a firm calendar after earlier delays and make it one of the county’s most closely watched criminal proceedings this spring.

Dowhower’s sexual-assault case had previously been set for a two-day trial on Nov. 24 and 25, 2025, before Union County Judge Michael Piecuch granted a defense request for a continuance. The allegations in that case involve the sexual assault of a teenage girl in Kelly Township. The new June setting signals that the case has moved back into active trial territory after months of delay.

Dowhower is also tied to a separate criminal matter involving the alleged theft of $870,000 from the Susquehanna River Valley Visitors Bureau. That case is being held until after the sexual-assault charges are tried, keeping the financial allegations from moving ahead before the more serious personal-violence case is resolved. The size of the alleged loss makes the second case especially significant for a region where the visitors bureau plays a visible role in promoting tourism and supporting the local economy.

For Union County, the fact that juries were picked in two separate trials on the same day is an unmistakable sign that the docket is advancing toward the kind of public reckoning that comes with courtroom testimony, cross-examination and jury deliberation. In a county courtroom, that stage often marks the point when cases stop being abstract filings and become direct tests of evidence.

The June trial week now gives the Dowhower case a clear next milestone, while the second unrelated case also moves forward on the county’s crowded criminal calendar. For residents in Mifflinburg, Kelly Township and Lewisburg, the proceedings carry more than procedural weight. They involve allegations of sexual violence, a six-figure loss tied to a local nonprofit institution, and decisions that will shape how two serious cases are answered in open court.