Suspended Somerset DA appears in court, will be kept under house arrest until trial

SOMERSET COUNTY, Pa. — Suspended Somerset County District Attorney Jeffrey Thomas was in court Friday for a bond revocation hearing.

A judge decided he will be kept under house arrest until his trial, rather than going to jail.

The judge said he had to consider 3 things: if there was a bond violation, if there was a danger and if he had any contact with witnesses.

The judge determined prosecutors met their proof, but did not order Thomas to jail.

”If they proved their allegations at this level, that’s appropriate. I think, what would’ve been inappropriate would be for him to be fully incarcerated in the Somerset County Jail,” Thomas’ defense attorney, Ryan Tutera said.

The AG’s office said Thomas’ behavior is why they were there Friday.

They told the judge they believe Thomas is a dangerous person who cannot be trusted with his freedom.

The judge agreed that he felt Thomas violated his bond, but instead of incarceration, he ordered him to live with his parents under electronic monitoring and GPS tracking.

He cannot have any alcohol and cannot have any contact with his wife or any witnesses.

”We know there are a lot of men and women that are sitting in county jails pending trial and it’s very difficult for those individuals to have access to their lawyers… so, it goes without saying this is a benefit to him,” Tutera said.

Thomas was just hit with two new and wholly separate cases this week.

One is stemming from an alleged assault in May of last year where Thomas is accused of punching his wife in the head multiple times while she was on a FaceTime call with someone.

She testified Friday that she did not even know about the charges until Thomas was being arraigned.

A few weeks ago, Windber Police said Thomas chased down a commonwealth witness, and friend of the sexual assault victim, with his truck and allegedly deliberately rammed his truck into the witness’ vehicle.

Channel 11 asked Thomas’ attorneys if they believe there is any special treatment for Thomas, but both said no.

”He’s a district attorney, he was dually elected in this county but we don’t think that plays into anything, in fact, I would assert in some respects that may be working against him,” Tutera said.

Thomas is expected to go to trial in September for the initial sexual assault charges that led to all of this fallout.

If Thomas violates any of these conditions, he will immediately be sent to jail.

Suspended Somerset DA could go back to jail after new allegations

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