28 September 2023- Recorded phone calls the man at the center of a stabbing in Waynesboro last month reportedly show that he tried to get the victim to no show or change her story about that event. Ervin Wydell Shultz is already behind bars on charges of felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and two counts of misdemeanor assault. Shultz is now charged with felony intimidating a witness to withhold testimony and felony intimidating a witness to provide false testimony. Franklin County Jail already has Shultz in their care on a $50,000 bail but he’s now looking at an additional bail of $50,000, bringing the total to $100,000.
Waynesboro PD officers were dispatched around midnight on August 25th for a reported stabbing on Tritle Avenue in the borough. After searching numerous places, they allegedly found the victim in the 100 block of S Potomac Street. She was reportedly very uncooperative due to her believing that her attacker would not be found or face any consequences.
After learning the situation, police were made aware of the details of the attack by Ervin Shultz at the Tritle Avenue home. Shultz allegedly stabbed the victim in the hand/wrist area after an argument. He also allegedly held the victim down by the neck but no visible marks were detected. Police were, however, to get the victim treatment for the stab wound from EMS and document a significant amount of blood at the scene of the stabbing.
Shultz was arraigned at 8:15pm on August 26th, nearly two days after the incident.
About two weeks after the incident, police were made aware that Shultz was allegedly trying to have his victim change her story and not testify of the incident. Since Shultz was incarcerated at the Franklin County Jail, his phone calls were taped in their entirety.
PSP Troopers were able to listen to multiple calls between Shultz and the victim, with the former allegedly calling her pet names. Troopers also say sometimes Shultz pretends that he’s not speaking to the victim but rather her sister. While he does this, investigators say, he has sometimes broken character and acknowledged that he is talking to the actual victim.
During one of the calls, Shultz allegedly said “your sister gave this bull**** statement how I stabbed her in the hand and I grabbed her neck”. The victim would then respond, “I’ll take care of that Monday and I’ll call your PO too”.
During the subsequent calls Shultz allegedly continuously tries to get the victim to change their statement. He said on one call, “tell them you had mental issues and you didn’t know who I was”. More recorded calls between the two allegedly showed the victim saying, “what if I just don’t show up?”, resulting in Shultz saying, “that would be wonderful, too”. This continued from September 3rd to September 18th.
Ervin Shultz is still behind bars on $100,000 combined bail. His preliminary hearing for the newest charges is set for October 10th.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39302-CR-0000338-2023, Incident No.: WPD202308301, Docket Number: MJ-39304-CR-0000243-2023, Incident No.: PA 2023-1260667
