Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Bethlehem police officially drop charges against students who refused to tip at Lehigh Pub

From Express-Times:

Bethlehem police officially drop charges against students who refused to tip at Lehigh Pub

By Express-Times staff

November 24, 2009, 9:32AM

One day after District Attorney John Morganelli announced he was recommending two college students who refused to pay a tip at the Lehigh Pub be cleared of criminal offenses, Bethlehem police have officially withdrawn the charges.

In a news release issued this morning, Bethlehem police say they are dropping the theft of services charge against Leslie Pope, 22, and John Wagner, 24. The two claimed they received horrible service Oct. 23 when they went to the restaurant with six other people.

As a result, they paid the bill, but refused to fork over a restaurant-imposed 18 percent gratuity. Police were called, and they were hauled off in a cruiser. Morganelli said Monday he felt the criminal charges were not warranted because gratuities are optional.

Police said this morning they are taking the advice of Morganelli, who said the case would not make it past the district court level.

1 comment:

  1. The ONLY reason Behtlehem PD dropped the charges was because of the national attention this story got. The police should never have been involved in the first place-another black eye for the Bethlehem PD.

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