A woman accused of harassing employees of a victim outreach center has refused to accept a plea deal, pushing for a trial that is scheduled to take place in January.

Butler police arrested Brittany A. Hartos, 27, of Irwin, Westmoreland County, on Oct. 15, 2018, for allegedly harassing four employees of Butler County's Victim Outreach Intervention Center.

Police alleged that between April 23 and Sept. 26, Hartos made more than 300 harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, text messages and emails.

But Hartos' lawyer, Victor Vouga, questioned the charges at the time and said his client hadn't done anything to justify the charges.

On Jan. 17, the case will go to a summary appeal trial.

Hartos originally was charged with harassment, a third-degree misdemeanor. On Oct. 11, prosecutors with the state attorney general's office reduced the charge to summary harassment.

But Hartos declined to accept a plea deal, according to Vouga.

“My client said she didn't do it,” Vouga said. “Some clients will plea to the summary and pay the fine, but my client has been consistent from the very beginning that she's not guilty of what they're saying she did.

There's not too many people (who) stick to their principles down to the wire like this, and she's not going to plea to anything.”

Vouga said prosecutors also reduced the misdemeanor to a summary charge because there wasn't enough evidence to support a misdemeanor.

“There were discovery issues that the commonwealth was having,” Vouga said. “The (attorney general) decided it was best to take it down to a summary. It was kind of a plea offer, but it was also making the case fit with what they had.”Despite the alleged 300 phone calls authorities said Hartos made, Vouga said that evidence wasn't turned over during discovery.“All we got were two voicemails,” Vouga said. “The allegations in the original complaint weren't backed up.”Vouga said that for Hartos these recent developments come as a relief after a year and a half of dealing with what she believes are superfluous charges.In August, the attorney general's office dropped another criminal case against Hartos.In that case, prosecutors accused her of threatening to kill Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger during a call to a suicide prevention hotline. She was arrested April 8, 2018, and placed in the Butler County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. It was dropped to a nonmonetary bond the following month, allowing her to be released on pretrial supervision with the condition that she obey the recommendations from a completed psychological evaluation.The hotline is known as the Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is a confidential service that provides counseling and offers resources to people in suicidal crises or emotional distress.The state attorney general's office was prosecuting the case since the county's district attorney was the alleged victim. Police originally charged Hartos with aggravated assault, a felony, and terroristic threats and simple assault, both misdemeanors.In a prepared statement, the attorney general's office wrote, “When our office applied the law to the facts of this case, we could not proceed.”“This poor girl's life has been turned upside down for more than a year now,” Vouga said.“We're happy to finally be getting the court date. One way or the other, this will all be cleaned up and she could move on with her life because with these pending charges, it has substantially impacted her ability to find work. It's been a nightmare for her and, hopefully, this lays things to rest.”

Brittany Hartos