Lutheran pastor accused of planting recording device in Summit home waives felony charge

Tim Hahn, Erie Times-News
·2 min read
An autopsy was scheduled in Erie County on Friday for a 2-year-old Oil City boy who was found dead in a canvas bag hidden under a table inside an Oil City residence on Wednesday. Oil City police have charged the 24-year-old boyfriend of the boy's mother with killing the child on Monday.

A Lutheran pastor accused by the Pennsylvania State Police of planting a recording device in a woman's Summit Township home in September is facing fewer felony charges as the case against him advances in court.

Thomas M. Glasoe, 48, waived to court on Tuesday a third-degree felony count of intercept communications as he appeared before Summit Township District Judge Brian McGowan for his preliminary hearing. Two other charges that state police filed against Glasoe in the incident, a first-degree felony count of burglary and a second-degree felony count of criminal trespass, were withdrawn by prosecutors Tuesday afternoon.

More: Police accuse Lutheran pastor of planting recording device in woman's Summit Township home

Glasoe remains free on unsecured bond.

State police, in a criminal complaint filed on Oct. 1, accuse Glasoe of placing a hidden recording device in the bedroom of a woman's home in Summit Township. A trooper who went to the residence on Sept. 29 and was given consent to search it found the recording device hidden above a panel in the bedroom, and later confirmed that the device contained recordings of the woman speaking, according to information in Glasoe's criminal complaint.

The woman told state police she came home on Sept. 28 to find Glasoe in the residence. She said she later had a phone conversation with Glasoe in which he admitted to placing a recording device in her bedroom, according to information in the complaint.

When state police interviewed Glasoe about the incident on Oct. 1, he confessed, the trooper wrote in the complaint.

Glasoe, who is pastor of the Messiah Lutheran Church in Wesleyville, was placed on administrative leave with pay, according to a letter from Lutheran Bishop Michael Lozano that was read to the Messiah Lutheran Church congregation during an Oct. 8 church service.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Lutheran pastor charged with planting recording device waives felony