Credit: Middletown police
A second-grade teacher from Middletown was in court Thursday for one case and is also now facing new charges including fabricating evidence and false reports.
On Thursday morning, Andrew Troutman, 36, was in district court on charges of victim intimidation, victim retaliation, disorderly conduct and harassment. Represented by Philadelphia-based attorney Marc Neff, Troutman waived the preliminary hearing and will face trial on the charges.
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The case that came before District Judge John Kelly Thursday morning was one of three sets of criminal charges Middletown police have lodged against the teacher at Bristol Township’s Clara Barton Elementary School. All three cases involve a dispute in the Snowball Gate neighborhood in Levittown where Troutman lived until recently. He is accused of spitting on a male neighbor while telling the female neighbor he was “going to kill her.” He also reportedly threatened the neighbors he was having problems while he was awaiting a court date.
According to court papers, Troutman was charged this month with false reports and tampering with evidence. He was served with the latest charges via summons and remains free from prison after posting bail for a previous case.
During a July incident, Troutman and his wife told an officer they received a threatening note that was allegedly from a neighbor who they were feuding with. A detective ended up taking that letter and testing it for DNA using Bucks County’s new DNA evidence initiative.
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Police wrote that they have “probable cause to believe Andrew Troutman created and sent threatening and harassing notes to himself in an attempt to mislead law enforcement authorities into believing they had been created and sent by one or more of his neighbors.”
The DNA evidence for the case was collected from the adhesive portion of the manila envelope the threatening letter came in, police said.
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Troutman was placed on leave from Bristol Township School District on September 16. District officials have yet to confirm whether his leave is paid of unpaid.
The Troutman family has sold the Silverbell Lane home where they lived at the time of the dispute, according to real estate records.
Troutman is set to have a preliminary on the latest case on January 14.
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Neff did not return a request for comment from LevittownNow.com as of press time.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.
