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Man behind Trump 'dossier' faced harsh spotlight as teen in Philly burbs

The former Wall Street Journal investigative journalist is no stranger to big stories or adversity, but he had an earlier, tragic brush with being on the other side of the news.

FILE – In this Nov. 14, 2017, file photo, Glenn R. Simpson, co-founder of the research firm Fusion GPS, arrives for a scheduled appearance before a closed House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has released a transcript from an interview with Simpson, the firm that commissioned a dossier of allegations about President Donald Trump's ties to Russia. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE – In this Nov. 14, 2017, file photo, Glenn R. Simpson, co-founder of the research firm Fusion GPS, arrives for a scheduled appearance before a closed House Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has released a transcript from an interview with Simpson, the firm that commissioned a dossier of allegations about President Donald Trump's ties to Russia. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)Read moreAP Photo / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File

As founder of the firm that produced the highly controversial Trump-Russia dossier, Glenn R. Simpson has found himself at the center of a political firestorm.

The former investigative reporter for the Wall Street Journal is no stranger to big stories or adversity, but he had an earlier, tragic brush with being on the other side of the news.

In 1982, while a 17-year-old student at Conestoga High School in Chester County, Simpson threw a beer bash for his classmates. Jon Andrews, an 18-year-old senior, staggered from the party and was fatally struck by a car.

Simpson's mother, Jane Marie, was charged with allowing her son to have a alcohol-fueled party at their Tredyffrin Township home. The most serious charges were eventually dismissed, but the episode led to a front-page article in the Inquirer about the perils of underage drinking.

In a lengthy profile published Tuesday by the New York Times, Simpson, 53, was described as having moved on to college and then journalism before launching Washington-based Fusion GPS in 2010. The firm was behind the so-called dossier detailing possible connections between President Trump's 2016 campaign and Russian officials.

Simpson, who has, behind closed doors, been answering questions about the dossier before three congressional committees, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

In the Inquirer article, Simpson and other Conestoga students interviewed provided a frank glimpse into the world of teen drinking on the Main Line.

"You drink to be outrageous," he said. "We used to go crazy."

Andrews was an athletic student with curly blond hair who chewed tobacco and worked two jobs after school.

He was lying on the road, either passed out or asleep, when he was run over by a 1969 Chrysler New Yorker being driven by a 17-year-old girl who attended the party but had not been drinking.

A year later, a civil jury in Chester County found neither the girl nor Simpson's mother negligent in the death of Andrews.

Simpson's mother had been charged with corruption of minors and conspiracy to aid underage drinking, but those counts were tossed by a judge. She faced a lone offense of permitting minors to drink — a violation of the Pennsylvania liquor code. The final outcome of the case was not immediately available from online records Tuesday night.