Identity theft, forgery charges dismissed against Troy Bailey while other charges to go to trial
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Troy Bailey Sr., charged as the main shooter in the January killings of Alisha Seese and Ronald Dailey Jr., will stand trial on three counts each of theft by deception and making false statements after no arguments to the contrary were made by the defense during a preliminary hearing last week, according to a ruling issued by District Judge Christian Frey on Monday afternoon.
However six counts of forgery and three counts of identity theft were dismissed by the judge.
The charges were filed after it came to light that Bailey Sr. allegedly used his son's social number in order to obtain employment, as well as public assistance benefits.
Bailey Jr. has been serving a life sentence in Philadelphia for murder since 2019.
"The Commonwealth presented no evidence that the defendant altered any writings of another person," Frey found in dismissing the forgery charges.
The prosecution also failed to enter any evidence as to whether Bailey Jr. had given his father the consent to use his information, Frey ruled, in reference to the identity theft charges.
The statute was designed to protect individuals from the unauthorized use of their personal information, the Judge's ruling explained.
"Without establishing an unauthorized use of a victim's information, the Commonwealth cannot sustain a prima facia case to support the identity theft counts," Frey explained in his ruling.
Three counts of forgery added at the close of the preliminary hearing under a different section of the law were also dismissed for a lack of evidence presented as to whether Bailey Jr. had given his father consent to use his identity.
"While this omission in the Commonwealth's evidence does not relieve the defendant of all criminal culpability for his alleged actions, it does relieve him of liability under this section," Frey said in his ruling.
No trial date on this matter has been set yet as Bailey awaits trial on the Jan. 11 double homicide.