Charges Against Former Mayor's Grandson Dropped

The Northampton County district attorney has dropped charges against a 20-year-old Hanover Township man at the urging of his alleged victim and grandfather, former Bethlehem Mayor Gordon Mowrer, according to published reports.

Forest G. Huron was accused of stealing his grandfather’s ATM card and using it to withdraw $1,250 in cash over a series of transactions made at a Wawa convenience store teller machine last spring.

Northampton County DA John Morganelli told The Express-Times that he honored Mowrer’s written request to drop the charges against Huron.

Mowrer told The Morning Call that he “noticed a change” in his grandson. “Everyone deserves a second chance,” he told the newspaper.

Huron was charged with access device fraud, a third-class felony; theft, and receiving stolen property following an investigation that began when Mowrer reported that money was missing from his bank account.

The fraudulent withdrawals were traced to the Wawa at 741 E. Broad St. Bethlehem detectives matched the withdrawal times with surveillance camera images showing who was in the store at the time of the thefts.

When he was interviewed by Bethlehem police, court records say, Huron admitted to taking the money, which he said he needed to pay the costs on another criminal case in which he was accepted into a first-time offenders program.

Mowrer was Bethlehem’s mayor from 1974 until 1977 and again from 1987 until 1989. He also served as a city councilman from 2004 until 2011.