The Schuylkill County man who claims he was unlawfully arrested and imprisoned by Frackville Police last year has filed a federal civil lawsuit against the Borough, the two police officers at the scene that day, and Schuylkill County government.
Joshua Lindenmuth, then 20 years old, claims police made an egregious error when they placed him in handcuffs and sent him to Schuylkill County Prison, where he was held for 15 hours before getting released when officials at the Pottsville jail realized they had the wrong man in custody. Lindenmuth says police somehow confused him with a wanted man with the same name but 12 years old than him.
The incident led to the resignation of Frackville Police officer Joseph Murton and the firing of Chief Paul Olson in December. Olson has since filed a lawsuit against the Borough claiming his termination violated terms of his contract.
Lindenmuth v. Frackville, Olson, Murton, Schuylkill County
Lindenmuth’s lawsuit filed at US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania demands a jury trial. He’s seeking relief on counts of false arrest against Olson and Murton, Supervisory Liability against Olson, and Municipal Liability against Frackville and Schuylkill County government.
He says in the lawsuit that as a result of his false arrest, he “suffered loss of liberty, humiliation, emotional distress, and unwanted bodily invasion.”
“A simple comparsion of Plaintiff’s date of birth with the warrant subject’s indentifying information would have immediately confirmed Plaintiff was not the person sought,” the lawsuit reads. “Defendants ignored readily available exculpatroy information and continued Plaintiff’s detention despite obvious discrepancies.”
Initial Encounter with Police
Lindenmuth claims he initially phoned police in Frackville at about 4 p.m. on Aug. 19 regarding Tag to Tow stickers placed on two of his vehicles.
Olson and Murton arrived in response and almost immediately, Lindenmuth claims, the Chief begins questioning him regarding a vehicle hitting a fence at Goodwill Park. Lindenmuth says he told police he knew nothing about that. Olson said the vehicle that hit the fence was his father’s.
As it appeared Olson and Murton were getting ready to leave, Lindenmuth says he was told he’s being arrested and to place his hands behind his back. When he questioned why he was being arrested, police said it was due to an outstanding bench warrant from Schuylkill County Court.
Lindenmuth had never been in trouble before, he claims in his lawsuit. However, he was told by police that he’d failed to appear for a court date.
In the lawsuit, Lindenmuth claims police were actually looking for a then-32-year-old Joshua Lindenmuth, who did have an active case pending in Schuylkill County Court. That older Lindenmuth had allegedly stripped naked inside a Shenandoah Domino’s pizza restaurant, caused a fire extinguisher to explode in the bathroom, and walked nude into the kitchen of the business, where he grabbed a two-liter bottle of soda and chugged it.
Lindenmuth says police should have noticed differences between he and the Joshua Lindenmuth that was actually wanted by authorities. Not only are they different in age but the younger Joshua Lindenmuth had a vertically-oriented junior driver’s license. He says police removed his license from his front pants pocket, “looked at it for a brief second, then incredulously claimed to have confirmed (Lindenmuth) was the correct individual subject to the bench warrant.”
Regardless, Lindenmuth says he was placed in the back of Murton’s patrol vehicle while they confirmed the warrant. While in custody in the vehicle, Olson allegedly continued to question Lindenmuth regarding the alleged incident at Goodwill Park. Lindenmuth says he continually denied any involvement.
Prison Intake
When the warrant was confirmed, Lindenmuth was taken to Schuylkill County Prison, where he was questioned further by jail staff. Lindenmuth says the prison personnel expressed confusion about why (he) was behind held, because the biographical information being provided did not match that of the person with the outstanding warrant,” the lawsuit states.
Lindenmuth continued to say they didn’t have the right person in custody and though prison personnel allegedly agreed with him, he was told it was too late in the day to do anything about it and he’d have to wait until the morning to resolve the issue.
In the meantime, at 4:45 p.m., Lindenmuth claims, he was subjected to a strip search inside Schuylkil County Prison. At 10 p.m., a medical exam was conducted and Lindenmuth claims he was administered a tuberculosis vaccine without his consent and then returned to a cell he shared with another arrested individual.
The following morning, at about 7 a.m., Lindenmuth says he was taken from his cell and questioned by a person he believed represented the Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office in preparation for a court appearance. During that visit, Lindenmuth told the person with whom he was meeting that his birthday was Feb. 7, 2005, to which the other person acknowledged they had the wrong person in custody.
READ MORE:
👉 Frackville Fires Police Chief, Officer Resigns Following Wrongful Arrest, Imprisonment Investigation
👉 Olson Sues Frackville: Ex-Chief Claims Firing Violated Contract
👉 Frackville Agrees to Severance Payment to Fired Police Chief
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