Community Corner

L.M. FOP: Latest Allegations Against Twp. Officer are Slanderous

The local FOP president said he would not sit still for people "trying to get recourse by slandering" an officer.

Responding to  against Lower Merion Police Officer Robert Montgomery, a police union representative said Thursday that the matter was a simple neighbor dispute, ratcheted up to the level of slander.

“It’s a neighbor dispute against one of the officers who happens to live in the township,” said Sgt. Gavin Goschinski, president of the Lower Merion Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 28. “Apparently, the (Board of) Commissioners meeting is the new source to air your grievances against any police officer in Lower Merion Township, rather than the appropriate complaint process we have.”

Goschinski was referring to recent allegations of sexual assault lodged against a Lower Merion police officer, made public at . That matter is now being investigated by the Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman’s office.

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Ferman told Patch on Thursday that no criminal charges have been filed, but that the investigation is ongoing and she could not comment further.

Likewise, Lower Merion police officer Kerry Goldbold  (related to a civil service exam and his failure to be promoted) public at a Board of Commissioners meeting. It was the same evening that the case mentioned above came to light.

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