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Lawyer charged with planting tracking device in ex-girlfriend’s car

Upset about the breakup with his long-term girlfriend, a 64-year-old city man secretly planted a GPS tracking device and a audio recorder in the woman’s SUV so that he could keep “track of her movements” as well as hear her voice, South Williamsport police alleged in court papers.

Investigators allege that Michael J. Casale, of 1761 Malvin Place, illegally entered Cherry Lorson’s garage at 554 Grandview Place late last year and put the devices in her Honda CRV.

Casale was arraigned late Thursday morning on felony charges of burglary, trespassing and illegally intercepting communications.

Lorson alerted borough police in mid-March, just days after she discovered the devices in her vehicle, Taylor said.

“When she was asked if she had any idea who would place the devices in her vehicle, Lorson said she had an on-and-off four-year relationship with Casale, and that she broke it off in September 2015,” Taylor said.

Police took possession of both devices as evidence.

About four weeks into the investigation, Lorson informed Taylor on April 8 that Casale had called her on that day, asking her to meet with him because he wanted “to confess something to her,” court records state.

Lorson refused to meet with him, Taylor said.,

“Lorson told Casale that if he wanted to discuss the devices she found in her vehicle, he needed to know that she found them and turned them over to the police,” Taylor said.

Later that same day, Casale did in fact go to police headquarters and admitted to planting the devices in the woman’s car, Taylor said.

“Casale said he had a relationship for several years with Lorson, and that when she ended it in September, he did not handle the breakup well,” Taylor said.

Court records state that Casale had heard rumors that Lorson was seeing someone else and he was “obsessing over what she was doing and who she was with.”

Casale admitted to purchasing the devices, entering Lorson’s garage and placing them in her SUV “late at night, knowing she would be sleeping,” Taylor said.

Casale told police he put the GPS in the back of the vehicle – Lorson found it hidden under a blanket in the cargo area – and the recording device “under the front seat so that he could hear her talk. He put the audio recording on so it would record,” Taylor said.

Taylor said Casale told investigators that he placed the devices in Lorson’s SUV in late November or December. Casale admitted he tried three or four times to retrieve the devices, but each time he entered the garage, the vehicle was locked, Taylor said.

Before leaving the police station, Casale told Taylor he was “sorry” for what he had done, and the he knew he had “committed a crime.”

Following his arraignment before District Gary A. Whiteman, he was released on $25,000 bail.

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