Suspended Somerset DA Thomas receives house arrest, bond revoked after latest charges

Apr. 30—SOMERSET, Pa. — Suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas' bond was revoked Friday, confining him to his mother's home with an electronic ankle monitor before his trial on sexual assault charges.

Through a supervised release plan, Thomas must stay at the Windber home with an alcohol monitoring device and a GPS bracelet at all times, or else go to jail to await trial.

Court-appointed Judge Timothy Creany, a Cambria County senior judge, ordered Thomas to avoid any contact with his wife and anyone else associated with the charges against him — and to follow all probation reporting guidelines. Failure to follow those rules will result in Thomas' "immediate incarceration," he added.

The ruling concluded a more than two-hour hearing held after prosecutors from the state Office of Attorney General asked for Thomas' bond, which allows him to stay out of jail before his trial, to be revoked due to what they called a continued "pattern of violent behavior."

That now includes allegations that Thomas assaulted his wife in 2021, and summary offenses stemming from claims that he struck a prosecution witness' car and taunted the man shortly after midnight March 31 in Windber, as well as two other alleged incidents that have not resulted in charges against him.

Patrick Schulte and Tomm A. Mutschler, both senior deputies in the attorney general's office, pushed for Thomas to await trial in jail, saying that he "flagrantly" violated his previous bond conditions by allegedly pursuing a known witness in the case against him, then taunting him while a police officer was nearby.

The state prosecutors also cited other incidents detailed in their motion, including an incident in which Thomas allegedly followed his wife, Amy Thomas, into Windber Police Department's parking lot earlier this spring, as well as a 911 call on April 9 from a person who allegedly reported that Amy Thomas was being assaulted. No charges have been filed in either of those incidents.

Latest allegations

Amy Thomas took the witness stand at Friday's hearing, telling the court she has not reported any allegations against her husband and does not intend to.

She indicated the same about an alleged May 2021 incident that has led to charges. In that case, a woman allegedly told law enforcement officials earlier this month that she saw Jeffrey Thomas hitting Amy Thomas in the face and head during a FaceTime video call while the Thomases were in a moving vehicle. Amy Thomas has denied that it happened.

Prosecutors said that was evidence of the danger Jeffrey Thomas poses, regardless of Amy Thomas' testimony, adding that they have credible testimony to support the charges from the woman who said she witnessed the incident and photographed Amy Thomas' injuries.

Schulte said prosecutors have a long list of witnesses they could call to support their motion and the danger Thomas posed — but they declined to call witnesses during the hearing after Thomas' defense counsel agreed not to challenge the fact that new allegations were being made, or those allegations' specifics, during the hearing.

Creany said it was within his right to weigh prosecutors' information as it was outlined in the state's motion — even without the testimony.

Bond debate

Ryan Tutera, one of Jeffrey Thomas' two defense attorneys, argued that a major piece of the request to revoke Thomas' bond was based on those assault allegations, which are alleged to have occurred before Thomas' bond was set on his sexual assault charges later in 2021 — making it "impossible" to go back in time to apply them against the bond stipulations Thomas was given.

He also pointed to Amy Thomas' testimony challenging the story, and argued that the other incidents involved minor traffic infractions and incidents documented in a court motion, but not supported by criminal charges.

Prosecutors saw it differently. They said Jeffrey Thomas didn't just show a pattern of "danger," but also violated a specific condition of his bond, prohibiting contact with witnesses.

"He taunted a witness ... in front of a police officer," Mutschler said, noting that the level of offenses filed in the case weren't relevant.

"This is a dangerous person that cannot be trusted with his freedom until trial," Schulte said. "(Thomas') behavior is why we're here ... not anyone else's."

Creany cited the alleged March 31 traffic altercation and allegations of abuse April 9 by Jeffrey Thomas against his wife, regardless of "whether she acknowledges or believes it," as sufficient proof Thomas violated his bond conditions.

In a common step regarding house arrest eligibility, Creany ordered Thomas to Somerset County Jail, but allowed him to report to the county's probation office to undertake the application process for electronic monitoring and probation oversight. Thomas' mother, Christine, testified she would serve as his court-approved custodian and report any probation violations to police.

Thomas is currently scheduled to appear for trial in September on allegations that he unlawfully entered another Windber acquaintance's home carrying beer — then sexually assaulted and strangled her. His law license has been suspended, preventing him from overseeing his office, and the Somerset County Salary Board halted his pay late last year.

The high-profile case has drawn continued attention — and a recent decorum order reminding attorneys and parties involved in the case to avoid litigating it outside court, something Creany repeated Friday, a day after Amy Thomas spoke to a Tribune-Democrat reporter.

As presiding judge, Creany is seeking to bring the case to trial before Somerset County citizens who would decide the assault charges based only on evidence and testimony presented in court.

Friday's abrupt bail revocation hearing resulted in heightened security that included both county sheriff's deputies and support by Somerset Borough police officers, who used hand-held metal detectors to scan attendees. Sheriff Dusty Weir said the steps were taken out of an abundance of caution, not any type of specific concern, and that no incidents occurred before or during the proceeding.

Afterward, Thomas left the courthouse with a deputy escort and walked one block down the street to Somerset County Adult Probation to process paperwork and receive his monitoring devices.

County probation staff referred calls on Thomas' probation status to Chief Dave Roman, who did not return two messages for comment. But county jail staff confirmed that Thomas received his ankle device and was not reporting to their custody.