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Convicted city health inspector on house arrest

Clarence Morris, a former city health inspector who stole $1,200 from a North Broad Street Chinese restaurant last year and assaulted a female employee who chased him, was allowed yesterday to serve his 11 1/2-to-23-month sentence under house arrest.

Clarence Morris, a former city health inspector who stole $1,200 from a North Broad Street Chinese restaurant last year and assaulted a female employee who chased him, was allowed yesterday to serve his 11 1/2-to-23-month sentence under house arrest.

At a June 20 hearing, Common Pleas Judge Ellen Ceisler sentenced Morris to county jail with work-release eligibility, but said that she would consider house arrest if he proved that he had a city address. He has most recently been living in Phoenixville, Chester County.

Yesterday, on Morris' surrender date, his attorney, Brian Fishman, said that he had shown the judge a rental lease and a utility bill, both in Morris' name, for a residence on Lindbergh Boulevard in the city's Eastwick area.

The judge then permitted Morris to serve his sentence under house arrest rather than in jail.

About 1:30 p.m. July 18, Morris, then a probationary employee with the Department of Public Health, went to the Erie Express Chinese Restaurant on Broad Street near Venango, in Tioga.

After Morris, then 33, stole $1,200, employee Min Li chased him to his city-issued Jeep. The two struggled, and Morris slammed his car door on Li's arm, then pushed her to the street.

After a nonjury trial in March, Ceisler convicted Morris of robbery, theft and simple assault. *