A Pennsylvania prosecutor has dropped his salary and gains after staying accused of sexual assault.

The Somerset County wage board barred district attorney Jeffrey Lynn Thomas from accumulating his $185,000 salary after currently being charged with sexual assault in September 2021. The board also established that his income will now be collected to performing district attorney Molly Metzgar. Thomas’ legislation license was temporarily suspended in Oct.

This ruling follows a legislation that was passed by Gov. Tom Wolf in November that deems the place of work of district legal professional as vacant if the man or woman that at this time has the mantle is disbarred. Regulation license suspensions will cause the incumbent to be suspended from workplace till their license is restored or their term expires. It is unfamiliar which will occur first in Thomas’ circumstance.

Thomas is accused of forcing himself into a woman’s dwelling and raping her. According to The New York Occasions, he only still left the woman’s residence just after she promised not to simply call authorities. He has been formally billed with indecent and uncomplicated assault, prison trespass, and strangulation. A earlier rape cost was dropped in September.

Pennsylvania’s lawyer typical Josh Shapiro beforehand unveiled a statement condemning the steps of Thomas. He then reported that it served as a reminder that “no just one is over the law.” He also praised Thomas’s accuser for her bravery.

“That is in no way an straightforward point to do,” the assertion from Shapiro study, “specifically when your abuser is a impressive elected formal.”

Thomas is at the moment out on bond. His lawyer, Holly Whalen, declined requests for comment.

For additional reporting from The Linked Press, see beneath.

The county solicitor states the following go is dependent on what comes about just before the state Supreme Court docket, which has the closing say about Pennsylvania regulation licenses. A Republican, Thomas was elected two years in the past.

Before this year, the district lawyer in Bradford County, Chad Salsman, experienced planned to continue on serving as the county’s top prosecutor even though his possess scenario was pending for pressuring customers for sexual intercourse when he was a protection attorney and then coercing them to hold silent about it.

Salsman turned about trial and courtroom obligations to subordinates. But he subsequently pleaded responsible to prices of witness intimidation, endorsing prostitution and obstruction of justice and resigned.

In Thomas’ situation, county officials experienced said his access to the business office and the courthouse have been previously limited. He has preserved his innocence and awaits trial.