Veteran Montco Detective Retires After Three Decades Of Service

NORRISTOWN, PA — A veteran Montgomery County investigator who once lost an earlier job as a municipal police officer after he arrested a borough councilmember from his own community has retired from his position as a county detective.

Michael Altieri, a Norristown native who previously worked as a cop in West Conshohocken and Bridgeport, both Montgomery County municipalities, officially retired last week, and Montgomery County Commissioners learned about the veteran investigator during their recent monthly meeting.

Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele spoke about Altieri's decades of service, which began back in 1993 when he came to work as a county detective.

"I am happy for him and sad for us and sad for the citizens of Montgomery County because there are few people who have made a bigger difference in our county than Michael," Steele said during the meeting.

Steele said Altieri came to the county after being fired from the West Conshohocken Police Department in the early 1990s.

Altieri was fired in retaliation for arresting a former borough councilmember, Steele said, an individual who was subsequently prosecuted by the DA's Office.

"That was a blessing in some way for the county," Steele said about Altieri's firing, since he was able to join the county detectives.

Throughout the years, Steele said, Altieri worked on a variety of criminal matters, everything from undercover narcotics work to biker gang cases.

Altieri, Steele said, brought a wealth of knowledge to the DA's Office, "all of which he shared and made a huge difference in our county and our county's public safety for the last 29 years."

Steele said throughout his career, Altieri had received commendations from many of Steele's predecessors in the Montgomery County DA's Office as well as the district attorneys in Bucks and Monroe Counties.

The commendations recognized Altieri's "very dangerous" undercover work throughout the decades, Steele said.

Altieri, who had also attended and graduated from wiretap school, at one point coordinated and supervised the county drug task force, which Steele said comprises 450 police officers from 53 municipalities across Montgomery County.

"He's the best and we're going to miss him," Steele said, adding that Altieri and his wife have been like "family to all of us in the District Attorney's Office."