The former Frackville police chief, a former officer, and the County government are pointing fingers at one another in federal court as they deny liability in a civil rights lawsuit over the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of a 20-year-old Schuylkill County man.
The filings stem from the August 2025 arrest of Joshua Lindenmuth, who was detained on a bench warrant actually meant for a 32-year-old man with the same name. The lawsuit, filed on March 18, follows a months-long borough investigation that resulted in the December firing of Frackville Police Chief Paul Olson and the resignation of Officer Joseph Murton a month prior.
The core dispute in the federal lawsuit centers on whether the officers ignored the 20-year-old’s driver’s license, which he claims proved his innocence, and whether Schuylkill County Prison staff knowingly detained the wrong person for 15 hours.
According to his official answer to the complaint filed in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Olson denies violating Lindenmuth’s rights and relies heavily on body-camera footage to dispute the allegations. Olson admits he was at the scene on Aug. 19 responding to a question Lindenmuth had about an off-road vehicle. However, the former chief specifically denies placing handcuffs on the plaintiff or putting him in the back of the police cruiser. He says that was Murton.
Olson’s response includes 26 affirmative defenses aimed at shielding him from liability. His legal team – including Donald Carmelite and Coryn Hubbert, of Marshall Dennehey PC, of Camp Hill – argues that probable cause existed at the time of the arrest and that his actions were reasonable based on information available. He also claims qualified immunity, protecting government officials like him from civil liability unless they violate clearly established law.
The chief’s attempt to distance himself from the physical arrest directly conflicts with Murton’s official response to Lindenmuth’s lawsuit.
In his answer, Murton admits he physically handcuffed the 20-year-old and transported him to the County jail, but he distances himself from the decision to make the arrest. Murton says it was Olson that questioned Lindenmuth and told him there was a warrant for his arrest. Murton also denies ever seeing the Lindenmuth’s ID.
Murton has also filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, asking the court to immediately dismiss the lawsuit against him, specifically, with prejudice. His attorney, Andrew Bellwoar, of Allentown, says executing a warrant that appears valid on its surface is a “good faith mistake,” and that street-level officers do not have an independent duty to launch an on-the-spot investigation into a suspect’s identity.
The legal finger-pointing extends to Schuylkill County government, which filed its official answer distancing prison officials from the initial police encounter. The County admits Lindenmuth was processed at the prison, held overnight, and released around 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 20.
However, the County strictly denies allegations that its intake guards realized they were holding the wrong man. In its defense, the County claims any injuries to the plaintiff were caused by third parties outside of its control, pointing back at Frackville Police.
Following Lindenmuth’s August arrest, Frackville hired a private investigator and special legal counsel to review the incident. Borough Council President Ron Jordan said publicly the investigation confirmed officers arrested the wrong Joshua Lindenmuth. On Dec. 11, the council voted 4-3 to terminate Olson. At that same meeting, the council formally accepted Murton’s resignation, effective Nov. 14.
Lindenmuth detailed his ordeal in a prior letter to Frackville’s Borough Council, saying he was strip-searched and vaccinated while held in the County jail. Court records show the 20-year-old has only traffic citations on his record.
The bench warrant executed by the officers was actually intended for Joshua A. Lindenmuth, 32, of Shenandoah, who had failed to appear in court on charges stemming from a December 2024 incident where he allegedly stripped naked and discharged a fire extinguisher inside a Domino’s Pizza.
Attorney Albert Evans, who represents Olson in a separate wrongful termination suit against Frackville, previously vowed to fight the chief’s firing, saying Olson was simply assisting another officer and doing his job. Evans has publicly disputed Lindenmuth’s written account of the arrest, saying that the letter contains errors that are contradicted by body cam footage.
Frackville Borough has not yet filed an official response to Lindenmuth’s federal lawsuit, according to records available to Coal Region Canary.
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