DA drops ethnic intimidation case against West Deer couple

Prosecutors withdrew criminal charges Wednesday against a West Deer couple accused in an alleged ethnically motivated beating of a man because authorities could not find the victim.

George Palmer, 32, and Hope Gorham, 31, had been charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, conspiracy and robbery.

“We withdrew because we cannot locate the victim at this time,” said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, on Wednesday afternoon.

Police said the alleged victim told them that Ms. Gorham lured him May 10 from a bar to the couple’s Oak Street home. In the criminal complaint, the man told police “that he isn’t black and that he is Hispanic but looks black.” He claimed he was confronted by four men with swastika and anarchy tattoos who attacked him with a wrench and yelled racial epithets at him.

When reporting the attack, the alleged victim gave police a name that later proved false. Police determined that he was wanted by the authorities under his real name, and they have been unable to contact him.

A preliminary hearing scheduled for May 17 was delayed by two weeks — until Wednesday afternoon — to give police additional time to locate the victim.

But when they were unable to do so, the DA’s office withdrew the charges against Mr. Palmer and Ms. Gorham during a brief meeting with West Deer District Judge Tom Swan, said Patrick Nightingale, Mr. Palmer’s attorney.

Two separate misdemeanor charges, for drug paraphernalia and heroin possession, are still pending against Mr. Palmer, according to Mr. Nightingale. Those charges emerged after police searched Mr. Palmer’s apartment following the alleged beating.

“He’s currently on parole sohe remains detained by the parole board until the charges are resolved,” Mr. Nightingale said.