Montgomery County DA Kevin Steele Awarded Commendations To Law Enforcement And Civilians

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA — Twenty-nine law enforcement members and eight civilians were honored this week by Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele for extraordinary efforts, exemplary work and heroism relating to a number of different incidents across Pennsylvania's third most populous county.

"Montgomery County is a wonderful place to live and work for many reasons including the fact that residents are willing to step up and help law enforcement do their job of keeping us all safe and making sure criminals are apprehended and prosecuted," Steele said in a statement. "We also have some of the finest law enforcement officers and officials who work every day at a high level of professionalism. These honorees are among the best. I'm proud to honor each of these civilians and law enforcement members for their actions."

The commendation awards were given out during a ceremony Thursday at the Montgomery County Fire Academy.

Three of the civilian awards went to Carnell Kemp and Michael Mayer, employees with the Abington Township Refuse Department, as well as civilian Juan Vasquez, for their assistance with the apprehension of Gilbert Newton, III, who was sought for the stabbing death of his former girlfriend.

Last fall, Newton was convicted of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend, Morgan McCaffery, at an Abington train station.

The three award recipients provided what the D.A.'s Office said was "crucial testimony" that led to Newton's capture.

Civilian commendations also went to Jennifer Schauble of Gulph Mills, Marie Pregler of Horsham, and Paula Singer of Ardmore, for their commitment to helping young Montgomery County residents and their service with the Youth Aid Panel Program.

Also honored were Paul Leonard, the recently retired longtime township manager in Upper Dublin, Fort Washington Fire Company Chief Andy Rathfon, Upper Dublin Deputy Police Chief Dan Wade and Upper Dublin Police Lt. Darren Nyce, for what the D.A.'s Office called their "outstanding initial response, emergency management and ongoing recovery related to Hurricane Ida and a tornado that was spurred by Ida and caused widespread damage in the community.

Two members of the Abington Township Police Department were commended: Detective Phillip Geliebter, who worked a rape investigation that led to the extradition of the defendant from Europe, (the man was ultimately tried and convicted), and Sgt. Ryan Duntzee, who helped lead an investigation into a series of 10 church burglaries, a residential burglary and five stolen vehicles, as well as the successful apprehension of two defendants.

Detective Holly Halota, an investigator from the Lower Moreland Township Police Department, was also honored for her work on that latter case, as she jointly headed up the investigation with Duntzee.

Over in Springfield Township, a total of seven officers from that community's police department were commended for their response to a robbery in progress that involved the use of a stolen firearm. The team also helped capture the suspects.

The Springfield Township officers who received commendations were as follows:

Lt. Rebecca Mersky, Nelson Whitney, III, Edward Gross, Ralph Burrows, Thomas Sweeney, Robert Baiada, and Stephen Craig.

Detective Joel Greco of the Lansdale Borough Police Department was commended for his involvement in an investigation involving a man who was caught filming children at a local school, something that ultimately led to police allegedly discovering he possessed thousands of images of child porn and that he had also been sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl in order to produce his own child pornography.

Commendations continued with an award given to Christopher Parisi, an assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania who worked on the successful prosecution of David Cooper, a major drug trafficker who was convicted and ultimately sentenced to 32 years in federal prison.

Steve Tori, senior supervisory intelligence analyst with the Mid-Atlantic Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network, received a commendation for providing high-quality and detailed key exhibits that were used in various first-degree murder trials, many during the slate of trials that occurred in Montgomery County throughout 2021-2022, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Six state police troopers from the Troop K Barracks in Skippack Township were also honored for exemplary service in 2021. They are Cpl. Joseph Harmon, and Troopers Christopher J. Abbott, Seth G. Betancourt, Seth A. Heffner, Jason K. Henley and Jeffrey A. Simmons.

Lastly were the commendations for heroism, which went to officers from numerous police agencies who were involved in a standoff in Lower Providence Township that started as a code enforcement incident with a resident known as a hoarder and ended up turning into a dangerous standoff with the man holding cops at bay with a gun and ultimately detonating explosives on his property, setting fire to his and nearby homes.

Those honored with the heroism commendation were as follows: Lower Providence Police Sgt. Matthew L. Kugnert, Lower Providence Police Cpl. Robert Heim, Lower Providence Police Officer Reginald Nealy, Lower Providence Police Officer Matthew M. Barber, West Norriton Police Cpl. Brian D. Bishop, Collegeville Police Officer John J. Barnshaw, Bridgeport Borough Police Officer William Murphy, and Lower Providence Township Code Enforcement Officer Jordan McCourry.