Monday, October 1, 2012
An Allentown man was added to the list of defendants in 'Operation Hard Target' – a sophisticated theft ring that allegedly defrauded Target stores throughout Pennsylvania of more than $20,000.
Chance Cameron, of Allentown, was the third man arrested for his alleged involvement in a sophisticated theft ring, in which suspects are accused of affixing lower-priced UPC labels to higher-priced products to defraud Target stores and selling the products online for profit, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney's office. Cameron's arrest was announced when one of the other defendants in "Operation Hard Target," Eugene Joseph Romano of Center Valley, Pa., appeared in a Montgomery County court room last week. According to a complaint filed in District Court 38-1-03, Romano 34, and Cameron, 35, have been charged along with Damian Gasdaska of Phillipsburg, NJ, with committing 46 individual retail thefts at Target Stores in …
Friday, September 14, 2012
The law enforcement community responds to the first Plymouth officer killed in the line of duty.
"Brad Fox is a hero." That simple statement bookended Plymouth Township Police Chief Joseph Lawrence's address to the media Thursday night, as he stood in the suddenly cool night air just a few hundred yards from where Officer Bradley Fox was killed in the line of duty. "Brad was with [the department] for seven years, and just recently graduated the Philadelphia K-9 school with his partner, Nick," said Lawrence, adding that Fox is survived by an expectant wife and young daughter. "This was a senseless, senseless act." The Montgomery County Board of Commissioners also issued a statement on Fox's death. "This senseless act tragically reminds us that, even in a place like Montgomery County, when our law enforcement personnel go to work every …
Friday, August 31, 2012
Natalie’s grandmother, aunt and mother discuss Natalie, and the police investigation surrounding her mysterious death
Natalie Marella’s family is speaking about her death and the police investigation that began when her body was found Aug. 29 in a New Hanover Field. “I would like to clear up some rumors regarding Natalie’s situation,” Marella’s mother, Marion Devicchis Marellla, posted on Natalie’s Facebook page. “We do not know anything as of yet. The detectives are working on finding out what happened. Until then no one knows. If anyone has any info regarding her whereabouts from Sunday to Wednesday, please come forward! Thank you!” Natalie Marella, 26, lived in Ambler and had been studying to be a nurse, according to her aunt, Karen Marella. She was last seen by family on Sunday. “Her mom and dad are kind of working with the police to find out what …
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Andre Dula is charged with first degree and third degree murder in the killing of William Benjamin “Ben” Butler on July 17.
Andre Dula, the suspect in the North Hills shooting of William Benjamin "Ben" Butler, attended a preliminary hearing today at which the victim's brother told the court that Dula had chased after the victim with a gun. Dula is charged with first degree murder, third degree murder and related charges. Assistant District Attorney, John Walko, called two witnesses during the hearing, both of whom were at the scene on July 17: Kevin Butler, the brother of victim William Benjamin “Ben” Butler, and Chappell Washington-Freer, a friend of William Butler. Kevin Butler was a backseat passenger in the vehicle that William Butler was in on July 17. He testified that they were out looking for Dula and when they spotted him walking near the North Hills …
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
After altercation on the 70 block of North Hills Avenue in North Hills, Andre Dula has been remanded to Montgomery County Correctional Facility and is charged with first degree murder.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
From the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office: Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman and Abington Township Police Chief William J. Kelly announce the arrest of Andre Dula for the killing of Willam Butler. Dula is charged with first degree murder and related charges. On Tuesday, July 17 at 9:33 p.m., Abington Township Police responded to a reported shooting incident in the area of 77 North Hills Avenue in the North Hills section of Abington Township. After police arrived they learned that the shooting victim, William Butler, age 27, was transported to Abington Hospital by private vehicle for treatment of a gunshot wound. Despite their attempts emergency personnel were not able to save the victim and he was pronounced…
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Attorneys differ on whether the arrest of former Hatboro Police detective sergeant John Becker, who was assigned to the Montgomery County Drug Task Force, could impact arrests he made.
A criminal defense attorney contends that “every case” that ex-cop John Becker assisted with could potentially be jeopardized and Montgomery County may have been “exposed to liability." Becker, 42, of Horsham, a 17-year Hatboro Police veteran, as well as a special county detective for the Montgomery County Drug Task Force for more than a decade, is accused of coercing informants to buy drugs for his own personal use. He has also been charged with allegedly stealing cash, guns and drugs from the Hatboro Police Department’s evidence locker. The thefts alone - some of which Becker admitted to in this criminal complaint - are enough to taint his credibility, according to criminal defense attorney Peter Scuderi. “Who knows what to believe? Why …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The head of the county's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program was suspended in April.
According to The Times Herald, Karen Ricca, the assistant district attorney who was inexplicably suspended on April 27, was fired today during a county salary board meeting. Ricca and District Attorney Risa Ferman declined to comment on the cause of the original suspension at the time and today, Ferman would only say that an investigation revealed Ricca's conduct "was entirely inconsistent with the high standards we have tried to maintain. She has therefore been terminated, effective immediately." "I will not comment on the specifics of this matter because it remains under investigation," Ferman told the Herald. Ricca led – and decided whether applicants qualified for – the county's Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) program. The…
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Friday, August 19, 2011
A Norristown man was arrested Friday on suspicion of selling fraudulent prescriptions, and kept alligators as guards.
When officers of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office executed a search warrant on suspected drug trafficker Izek Tuggle’s apartment in Norristown, they found more than just pills and pot. They also found a 4.5-foot alligator. Two alligators, actually, were found along with a pit bull and a large scorpion inside an aquarium, according to a press release from Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman’s office. According to that document, members of the DA’s office, with assistance from the Plymouth, Norristown and Upper Dublin township police departments, had been investigating 36-year-old Tuggle since July, on suspicions of selling fraudulently procured prescription medications. The investigation found that Tuggle …
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Court ruled that recently enacted ethis ordinance does not apply to the district attorney's office.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman and invalidated the county’s ethics ordinance. Ordinance 09-1, which was enacted in 2009, placed a mandatory ethics code on all county offices, both elected and appointed. Chairman James Matthews and Vice Chairman Joe Hoeffel passed the ordinance while Commissioner Bruce Castor opposed the legislation. Ferman said she believed the ordinance was invalid and against the law because she is an independently elected official and the county should not have control over her office. Ferman filed a lawsuit with the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas in May 2009. The court ruled in favor of Ferman, as did the Commonwealth Court when the …
tony starks
10:08 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
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