U.S. Marshals Nab Montco Sex Assault Defendant Who Fled To California: Reports

LANSDALE, PA — A Montgomery County man wanted in connection with a sexual assault who fled across the country before his scheduled arraignment was recently located by U.S. Marshals and he is on his way back to the Lansdale area, according to reports.

Mehdi Mollah, 27, a borough resident, was charged back in April with felony counts of sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, corruption of minors, and a misdemeanor charge of indecent assault without consent of others, court records in his case shows.

He was supposed to be arraigned immediately after he was charged, but Mollah instead left Pennsylvania and made his way to California, according to a report on NorthPennNow.

The arraignment actually ended up happening on August 17 before Magisterial District Judge Harry Nesbitt, III, according to the criminal docket sheet in the case.

U.S. Marshals reportedly scoured the local region for Mollah, but he was ultimately found in Long Beach, California, the story states.

The sexual assault charges reportedly stem from an incident in Mollah's home involving an underage girl, who claims that he fondled and then had sex with her, the NorthPennNow story states, citing police officials.

Patch reached out to Lansdale Police but was unable to obtain additional details about the investigation.

Records show that a preliminary hearing was originally scheduled for Wednesday before Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine, but the proceeding appears to have been cancelled, according to court records.

Updated court records show that the hearing is now scheduled to take place later next month.

Bail was set for $250,077, records show. Mollah appears to currently be detained at the Bucks County Correctional Facility on unrelated charges.

The NorthPennNow story says that the extra $77 added to the bail served as a probation detainer because Mollah was on probation for drug charges in Bucks County at the time of his arrest from Montgomery County.

An Internet search for Mollah turns up numerous other instances in which he found himself on the wrong side of the law.

He was arrested in the summer of 2019 on felony drug charges, he was charged with DUI and other counts, and accused of spitting on a police officer in the spring of 2019, he was accused of threatening and harassing an ex-girlfriend back in 2015, and he was charged along with two other men in a kidnapping case back in 2020 that Patch reported on.