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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Hakime Cooper
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with retaliation against a witness/victim and harassment. At trial, Levonda Barnes testified that, during the morning of May 20, 2024, she gave testimony in a trial where she was the victim. N.T., Specifically, she testified for the Commonwealth, and against the Defendant, in courtroom 704 in the Philadelphia County Courthouse. After she gave her testimony, at approximately 12:00 p.m., she and her sign
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania Tahirah Stewart
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charge with hit and run driving. Tahirah Stewart, 36, was driving when her vehicle she struck a child in the 2400 block of Derry Street. She is charged with failing to stop.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Dieufort July
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with 22 crimes for the crash that injured five people, including six first-degree felonies for aggravated assault. Joly’s Haitian passport was taken into evidence upon his arrest. Police did not recover any weapons from his vehicle.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Elizabeth Goss
Erie, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire fraud and theft of government property. Elizabeth Goss, age 43, was accused of while working at the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, accepted unauthorized payments from unemployment compensation claimants to approve and expedite Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and other pandemic-related unemployment claims even though the claimants were not entitled to those benefits. The Indictment alleges
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Randy Welch and Earnest Morant
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit SNAP benefit fraud. Randy Welch, age 46, of Michigan, and Earnest Morant, age 58, of Harrisburg, engaged in a conspiracy to submit fraudulent SNAP benefits applications and then exchange the resulting electronic benefits transfer cards for cash. To further the conspiracy, Welch allegedly obtained the names, social security numbers, and personally identifiable information for numerous
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Andre Pitts
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with uttering counterfeit obligations and theft of government property. Andre Plitts, age 21, deposited an altered version of a U.S. Treasury check in the amount of $62,211. The check had been issued in February 2023 to another individual related to that person’s income tax return, with the memo line of the check identifying both the individual and tax year of 2021. The payee information and memo line of the
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Eugene K. Antwi
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with felony identity theft and theft by deception. Eugene K. Antwi, a 26-year-old from Brooklyn, was accused of using stolen credit cards to by more than $66,000 in liquor from stores across Pennsylvania.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Calvin Morris
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant seeking Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-46. Police stopped [Morris’s] vehicle based on a tip and recovered a firearm. On April 28, 2017, following a bench trial, the court convicted [Morris] of several firearms violations. On July 7, 2017, the court sentenced [Morris] to an aggregate term of 4 to 8 years of incarceration, followed by 2 years of probation.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Shawn Monper
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal Defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with making interstate threats to murder President Donald J. Trump, other United States officials, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Shawn Monper, 33, threatened to assault and murder United States officials and federal law enforcement officers with the intent to impede, intimidate, interfere with, and retaliate against the officials and agents while they were engaged in, and on accou
View VerdictUnited States of America v. William Freeman, IV
Scranton, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of making and subscribing a false tax return. William Freeman, IV, age 46, of Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, submitted at least 10 applications seeking pandemic stimulus funds through both the Economic Injury and Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, as well as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) on behalf of several entities under his control, including, Second Haven Services for
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Matthew James Addy
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with 13 counts of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, and two counts of aggravated identity theft, arising from schemes through which the defendant defrauded investors out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Matthew James Addy, 47, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, held himself out as a wealthy and successful businessman, entrepreneur, and investor, to induce investors and potential investors to make investments
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mike Missanelli
Norristown, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represents the defendant charged with domestic assault and battery. Officers received a 911 call and found in response that Mike Missanelli may have assaulted and battered his finance.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Joseph Garrett Buckland
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to create and distribute animal crush videos. Joseph Garrett Buckland, 44, and others conspired to pool their money to commission the creation of animal crush videos—that is, videos that show actual obscene conduct in which living non-human mammals, in this case, monkeys, were purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury—and then
View VerdictUnited Sates of America v. George Moses
Scranton, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, and bank fraud. George Moses, age 45, of Wilkes-Barre, submitted applications for unemployment compensation, pandemic unemployment compensation, economic injury disaster loan, and paycheck protection program loan benefits falsely representing that he had qualifying income from the operation of multiple businesses in 2019 and 2020. Based upon the false representations, Moses is alleg
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Arthur Thompson
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with felony possession of a firearm. On December 20, 2022, two Philadelphia police officers saw Arthur Thompson, 40, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, commit a traffic violation and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Thompson stopped his car, got out, tossed a loaded firearm, and ran away from the officers. After a brief foot chase, the defendant was detained and later charged locally with firearms violation
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Michael Joseph Breitenbach
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with fraud of taking money from insurers intended for his clients. Michael Joseph Breitenbach, 53, the owner of Patriot Public Adjusting, LLC, is accused of misappropriating over $82,000 in insurance claims and defrauding elderly homeowners in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Secario Goodwin
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with violating his probation. the Commonwealth filed the instant probation violation petition. The petition alleged four . . .violations: 1. Failure to report to the Monroe County Probation Department on March 27, 2024, as directed by his Probation Officer. 2. Failure to comply with all municipal, county, state, and federal criminal laws, in that on February 25, 2024, [Goodwin] was charged with [s]imp
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania Alexander David Webster
Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with burglary, strangulation, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, simple assault, harassment, and terroristic threat.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Teddy Torres
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with aggravate menacing. Teddy Torrest accused of lifting his shirt to show an employee his handgun and making a statement indicating it would be easy to take the employee hostage.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Nicholas Pecko
Scranton, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with bank fraud and theft of mail by a postal employee. Nicholas Pecko, age 33, of Vandling, Pennsylvania, allegedly stole two checks totaling $6,581.59 that were sent through the mail, intended to be delivered by the United States Postal Office. The indictment further alleges that Pecko executed a bank fraud scheme, whereby he presented the checks for deposit after they had been altered to falsely identify him
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Brett Michael Dadig
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charge with cyberstalking and making interstate threats. From May through November 2025, the Brett Michael Dadig, 31, traveled in interstate commerce to multiple states and used facilities of interstate commerce (such as his phone and the internet) with the intent to harass and intimidate numerous female victims, in many of whom the defendant had a romantic interest. Several of the victims were employees of fitness es
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Christopher Knight
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with deprivation of civil rights under color of law and falsification of records. On January 8, 2023, Christopher Knight, 47, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, blasted his first victim with pepper spray while the victim was lying face down on the ground with his hands behind his back. Knight then continued to spray the victim, striking him during the handcuffing process and after he was handcuffed. Two days
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Christopher Furman
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with embezzlement. Christopher Furman, 53, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of wire fraud and money laundering.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Jerome Brown, a/k/a Jerome F. Brown
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug trafficking and illegally possessing a firearm after law enforcement raided his car, home, and storage unit as part of a drug-trafficking investigation near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A plea agreement is a negotiated contract between the Government and a defendant. Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure governs criminal pleas and expressly forbids judicial participation in plea negotiat
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Santos Castro-Mota
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with drug trafficking. Santos Castro-Mota, 46, a Dominican Republic national, ran a drug trafficking operation out of the State Correctional Institution Phoenix (Collegeville, Pennsylvania). A joint investigation by federal, state, and local law enforcement operating under the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, determined that Aliquippa drug trafficker Kijan
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Phillis Fugah
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with car jacking and discharging a firearm during a violent crime. Phillis Fugah, 25, of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, and a male accomplice approached a Honda Pilot parked on the 7100 block of West Chester Pike, where a man sat in the vehicle with his two young children while waiting for his wife. The accomplice opened the passenger-side door but fled the scene. Fugah then opened the driver’s side door,
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Julian Thompson
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with failure to surrender. The Court was advised that, on November 21, 2024, Julian Thompson, 33, was sentenced in the Western District of Pennsylvania to 10 years of imprisonment on his convictions for possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, with the Court granting a request to allow Thompson to self-surrender to the Bur
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Justin Heimbach
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with six counts of mail fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Justin Heimbach, 34, of Bath, Pennsylvania, operated a construction company called TeamKJ Construction, and engaged in a scheme that caused fraudulent PUA applications to be filed in the names of individuals allegedly no longer employed by TeamKJ as a result of COVID-19. In reality, the applications contained a number of materially false statements
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Nasir Warlow
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with one count of carjacking and one count of using and carrying firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. At approximately 5:08 a.m., the victim parked his silver 2017 Nissan Sentra on the 6700 block of Woodland Avenue when Nasir Warlow and two accomplices, all wearing masks and dressed in black, approached the vehicle. Warlow approached the driver’s side, pointed a firearm at the victim, and
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Luis Rosa-Hernandez
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to engage in the business of dealing and manufacturing firearms without a license and possess machine guns.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Aaron Hertel and Michael Brown
Erie, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit wire and health care fraud. Aaron Hertel, 47, of North East, Pennsylvania, and Michael Brown, 49, of Erie, Pennsylvania led, managed, and supervised a conspiracy involving numerous employees at Hertel & Brown Physical and Aquatic Therapy that involved the use of unlicensed technicians to treat patients and then billed health insurance providers as if licensed physical therapists and physica
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Mahmoud Almasry, a/k/a Mohammad Jiham
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, as well as aggravated identity theft. Mahmoud Almasry, also known as Mohammad Jiham, 44, fraudulently entered the United States in 2016 by assuming another person's identity and continued using that identity for nearly a decade. Prosecutors allege he relied on multiple forms of identification belonging to that individual, who was already deceased
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Pierre Thomas
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. John O’Brien
John O’Brien of Masury, Ohio, engaged in a scheme with others to defraud Primary Health Network, a non-profit medical organization headquartered in Sharon, Pennsylvania, through the submission of fraudulent invoices, including from the telecommunications company O’Brien controlled. The four other defendants in the case all previously pleaded guilty, including three leaders of the organization last fall (read the November 2025 plea news release here). Judge Ranjan indicated he would sched
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Eric Raheem Pierce
Scranton, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with felony possession of a firearm and ammunition. During the course of several controlled drug purchases, Eric Raheem Pierce, age 38, of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, distributed approximately 35 grams of fentanyl before attempting to discard 25 bricks of heroin and another 23 grams of fentanyl on the date of his arrest. During a prior interaction with law enforcement, Pierce was found to be in possession of
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Geoffrey Magistrate
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with money laundering. The Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”) Global Illicit Financial Team (“GIFT”) identified David Metcalf announced that Geoffrey Magistrate, 61, a current resident of Limassol, Cyprus, and a prior resident of Pennsylvania, as a corporate service provider in Cyprus potentially involved in concealing and laundering funds obtained from illicit enterprises.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Carlos Sacanell
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with insider trading. Carlos Sacanell, 59, of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, was charged by indictment in October 2024. In September of last year, he pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud (insider trading) and one count of making a false statement to a federal agency. As detailed in court filings and admitted to by the defendant, Sacanell obtained material nonpublic information from his domestic pa
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Javon Pope
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with attempting to remove property and take other action to prevent seizure in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2232(a) as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). The Defendant sought to suppress the evidence against him. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const. amend. IV. We have explained that while “[a] se
View VerdictAndre Lenell Paden, Appellant
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Plaintiff post conviction relief. On March 19, 2020, while on state parole as the result of a Monroe County conviction, [Paden] was charged with [the instant] burglary and related offenses in Luzerne County. At the time, he was also facing charges for a crime committed in Lackawanna County. In March of 2022, while represented by counsel (plea counsel), [Paden] entered into a plea agreement to one count of burglary [in the ins
View VerdictSherice Sargent, et al.v . School District of Philadelphia, et al.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, civil rights lawyers represented the Plaintiffs who sued on an Equal Protection challenge to the School District’s 2022 Admissions Policy for four selective high schools. The School District of Philadelphia has three types of high schools: (1) neighborhood schools; (2) citywide schools; and (3) criteria-based schools. Criteria-based schools are selective and require city residents to apply for admission. The four most competitive criteria-based schools are the
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Dameia O. Smith, a/k/a "Omar," a/k/a "D"
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with solicitation and attempted murder of a federal witness. More than twenty years ago, a jury convicted Dameia Smith of both solicitation and attempted murder of a federal witness. The jury also convicted him of using or carrying a firearm “during and in relation to” a “crime of violence,” 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), which triggered a significant sentence enhancement that culminated in forty
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Donyell Soper and National Sanders
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with murder. Donyell Soper, 15, of McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania, and Nathan Sanders, 17, of Martinsburg, West Virginia, accused with killing a 15-yearold boy shot multiple times.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Terrie Lawson
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with two counts of theft by deception, a count of access device fraud, forgery and tampering with records or identification. Terri Lawson, age 52, of Edgewood, Pennsylvania, accused of misused a credit card when she was manager of one of the district's boroughs.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Bryce Hill
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute drugs. Bryce Hill, age 28, of Seattle, Washington, was a member of the Phoenix-based Monarrez Drug Trafficking Organization—a transnational criminal organization responsible for the distribution of millions of fentanyl pills, hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine, and dozens of kilograms of cocaine, from August 2021 to June 2023. The Monarrez TCO provided
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Ja’Shon Spencer
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with felony possession of a firearm. Ja’Shon Spencer, 22, possessed a Glock semiautomatic pistol equipped with a machinegun conversion device (MCD) or “Glock switch.” A MCD is a device that converts a semiautomatic firearm into a fully automatic firearm. Under federal law, both the MCD itself as well as the firearm equipped with it are considered machineguns and are illegal. Assistant United States At
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Randolf Simmons
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with 35 total charges relating to trafficking, involuntary servitude, kidnapping, sexual assault and drug-related offenses. Randolf Simmons, 46, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, accused for drug and human trafficking.
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Jorge Alberto Santamaria-Cortes
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with illegal reentry of a removed alien. Alberto Alberto Santamaria-Cortes, age 47, a Mexican national who was residing in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, illegally reentered the United States sometime after he had been deported in July 2014. Santamaria-Cortes was found again in the United States after being arrested on October 10, 2025, on unrelated state charges in Franklin County. Judge Mehalchick explained
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Yujun Ren
Doylestown, Pennsylvania criminal defense lawyer represents the Defendant charged with murder. Yujun Ren accused of killing Yuan Yuan Lu. Lu had told police Ren carried a gun with him everywhere, and she was scared of him. Lu was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head inside her car. Police said Ren has a concealed carry permit and a firearm registered to him in Pennsylvania.
View VerdictCommonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Chris Byard, Daquan Bishop
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendants charged with first-degree murder and related charges. Chris Byard, 27, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and related charges. Daquan Bishop, 28, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. The arrests were the result of a joint investigation between the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Philadelphia Field Division, and the Of
View VerdictUnited States of America v. Kristian Jackson
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with aiding and abetting carjacking.
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