A Pennsylvania man has filed suit against two state troopers who filed drug charges against him for carrying a powdery white substance during a July 2023 traffic stop in Dauphin County.
According to the lawsuit, state Trooper Phillip Pronick informed a magisterial district judge that the powdered substance was a mixture of fentanyl and xylazine in court documents demanding an arrest warrant.
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However, months later, after 33-year-old Amicar Maldonado Montengudo had spent two weeks in Rikers Island Jail in New York, law officers informed the judge that it was baking soda, the lawsuit stated.
Prosecutors later dropped charges against Montengudo, who had no previous criminal record in Pennsylvania.
Montengudo, a Pennsylvania native, has filed false imprisonment and malicious prosecution claims against Pronick and David Long, another state trooper involved in the case. He claims that the state troopers violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and should have spoken out when he was arrested on the bunk charges.
The lawsuit also names State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris, citing a legal tenet that allows litigants to sue the person or agency in charge of establishing policy, procedures, or customs inside an organization. The lawsuit does not specify which policy, practice, or tradition is at issue.
Montengudo seeks specific monetary damages, as well as interest, fees, charges, and delayed damages.
According to the lawsuit:
On July 31, Montengudo was riding in the front passenger seat of a car driving north on I-83 in Lower Paxton Township when Pronick stopped the driver.
The lawsuit claims that after gaining authorization to search the vehicle, Pronick discovered a pill bottle containing a white powdered substance. According to the lawsuit, Montengudo claimed possession of the bottle and informed officers it contained baking soda, which he used to soothe an upset stomach.
According to the lawsuit, state police took the bottle for testing but did not file any charges during the traffic encounter. They called Montengudo on August 3 and informed him that the test results were negative and that he may pick up the baking soda, according to the lawsuit.
However, while requesting a warrant to arrest Montengudo 20 days later, they informed former Magisterial District Judge Joseph Lindsey that the concoction contained xylazine and fentanyl. Lindsey agreed to their request, signing off on charges of possession with intent to deliver and use, as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.
Montengudo learned about the arrest warrant when he arrived at JFK Airport in New York on October 10, 2023, on a flight returning from the Dominican Republic.
Montengudo was detained by Port Authority Police until the next morning, when he appeared in New York City Criminal Court. He was confined in several holding cells until around 8 p.m., when a judge sentenced him to Rikers Island Jail for two weeks.
Montengudo was transported to Dauphin County Prison following his stint at Rikers Island. At his probable cause hearing on October 24, he finally learned that his criminal charges resulted from the July 31 traffic encounter.
After multiple court delays, prosecutors dropped charges against Montengudo during a probable cause hearing before Magisterial District Judge George Zozos on December 13. At the hearing, Pronick stated that the material in his pill bottle, which was seized on July 31, was baking soda.
