Editor’s note: This story has been updated with statements from Montengudo’s defense attorney explaining charges were withdrawn before the Dec. 13 probable cause hearing could occur, and that Pronick never testified.
A Pennsylvania man is suing two state troopers who filed drug charges against him for carrying a powdery white substance during a July 2023 traffic stop in Dauphin County.
State Trooper Phillip Pronick told a magisterial district judge the powdery substance was a mixture of fentanyl and xylazine in court documents requesting an arrest warrant, according to the lawsuit.
But months later, after 33-year-old Amicar Maldonado Montengudo spent two weeks in Rikers Island Jail in New York, law enforcement said it was baking soda, the lawsuit said.
Prosecutors later withdrew charges against Montengudo, who otherwise had no criminal record in Pennsylvania.
Montengudo, a Pennsylvania resident, is bringing false imprisonment, false arrest, and malicious prosecution claims against Pronick and David Long, another state trooper connected to the case. He argues the state troopers violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and should have spoken up when he was arrested on the bunk charges.
The lawsuit also ropes in State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris, under a legal doctrine that lets plaintiffs sue the person or agency responsible for setting policy, practices or customs in an agency. The lawsuit hasn’t specified what policy, practice or custom is at-issue in this lawsuit.
Montengudo is asking for unspecified monetary damages, in addition to interest, fees, costs and delayed damages.
According to the lawsuit:
Montengudo was riding in the front passenger seat of a car driving north on I-83 in Lower Paxton Township on July 31 when Pronick pulled over the driver.
After receiving permission to search the vehicle, Pronick found a pill bottle containing a white powdery substance, according to the lawsuit. Montengudo claimed ownership over the bottle and told police it was baking soda he used to relieve his upset stomach, the lawsuit said.
State police took the bottle for testing and didn’t file charges at the time of the traffic stop, the lawsuit said. They called Montengudo on Aug. 3 and told him the results of the test were negative, and that Montengudo could pick up the baking soda, the lawsuit said.
But 20 days later, they told former Magisterial District Judge Joseph Lindsey the mixture included xylazine and fentanyl when asking for a warrant to arrest Montengudo. Lindsey granted their request and signed off on charges of possession with intent to deliver and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
Montengudo didn’t find out about the arrest warrant until he landed at JFK Airport in New York on Oct. 10, 2023 on a flight back from the Dominican Republic.
Port Authority Police detained Montengudo until the next morning, when he was taken before New York City Criminal Court. He was held in various holding cells until around 8 p.m., when a judge sent him to Rikers Island Jail for two weeks.
After his stay in Rikers, Montengudo was transferred to Dauphin County Prison. At his Oct. 24 preliminary arraignment before Magisterial District Judge George Zozos, he finally learned his criminal charges stemmed from the July 31 traffic stop, his criminal defense attorney, La Tasha Williams, said.
After several court delays, prosecutors withdrew charges against Montengudo Dec. 13 before his probable cause hearing with Magisterial District Judge Joseph Lindsey.
While the lawsuit says Pronick testified during the hearing the substance was baking soda, Williams told PennLive the hearing never occurred and Pronick informally told her and prosecutors the powder was not a controlled substance before prosecutors withdrew charges.
