Thomas E. Cahill Jr. was found guilty Wednesday in Lebanon County Court of two disorderly conduct charges and not guilty for prohibited possession of a weapon and making terroristic threats following a police standoff in March 2024.
The 59-year-old city resident prompted a 4 1/2-hour police standoff on March 26, 2024, that closed down a portion of Route 72 and several other streets in the city around the 800 block of Chestnut Street.
On March 27, 2024, police filed a criminal complaint against Cahill charging him with terroristic threats with the intent to terrorize another, a first-degree misdemeanor carrying a maximum five-year prison sentence.
The prohibited possession of a weapon was the most serious charge, a felony, and carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $25,000. The two disorderly conduct charges are misdemeanors.
Following the announcement of the verdict, Lebanon County Judge Donna Long Brightbill ordered Cahill to avoid initiating contact with all witnesses in the case except for his father, Thomas Cahill Sr. As part of that order, Long Brightbill told Cahill Jr. that he must cooperate with law enforcement officials who testified in this case if they make contact with him.
Long Brightbill set unsecured bail at $750. It was noted by First Assistant District Attorney Brian Deiderick that Cahill Jr. had served more time in Lebanon County Correctional Facility than the disorderly conduct charges would require, so Cahill Jr. was to be released following the verdicts. Long Brightbill set sentencing for the two disorderly conduct charges for May 14.
Police were called to the Cahill & Son Furniture & Appliance store at 837 Chestnut St. shortly after 11:30 a.m. nearly a year ago following a report of an argument between a landlord and tenant.
The building is owned by Paul John Sopensky, who testified that he sent employee Fernando Melendez, a maintenance worker, to evict Cahill Jr., who was reportedly living in the basement of the used furniture business owned by Cahill Sr.
Sopensky of Sopensky Properties Commercial and Residential testified that he had a no-trespassing letter issued to Cahill Jr. in July 2020 that he said prohibited him from being in the building.
Cahill Jr. told the court during his testimony that he had a right to be in the building since he is a co-owner with his father of their business.
Melendez testified that he went to the building around 9:30 a.m. and was told by Cahill Jr. to leave the building. Cahill Jr. later testified that he was watching Tik Tok videos on his phone in a workshop room that morning when Melendez contacted him.
The maintenance worker further testified that Cahill Jr. refused to leave and issued an expletive while repeatedly saying, “I’m going to kill you.”
Around 11:30 a.m., police were called to the building, with Lebanon city officer Erik Peiffer being the first officer on scene. Peiffer and Melendez approached the furniture shop, but Melendez and Peiffer both fled to 833 Chestnut St. when Melendez said he saw Cahill reaching for a weapon in a gun cabinet located near the store’s large picture windows.
Afterwards, dozens of heavily armed officers surrounded the building and cordoned off several blocks around it. Peiffer testified that he never saw Cahill Jr. holding a weapon.
Lebanon city police officers John Allen and Philip St. Clair approached the business. Audio from a body camera video revealed Cahill saying that he was “going to get his guns” after imploring the officers not to shoot him.
St. Clair testified that Cahill Jr. appeared to be under the influence, that he fell into the glass window, was laughing and gave the middle finger to officers while also assuming several gun-related postures, which he demonstrated to the jury.
St. Clair stated twice at the scene that he saw a weapon and officers were informed to fall back, adding that Cahill Jr. “pointed a long gun in my direction.”
After hours of little visible activity, the police suddenly left the scene, and Cahill Jr. emerged from the building. During his testimony, Cahill Jr. said he called Lebanon Police Chief Brett Fisher to ascertain why there were numerous officers outside the business.
Audio from calls Cahill Jr. made to Fisher revealed that the defendant was going to get his guns since armed officers had the building surrounded.
Fisher testified that it appeared that the officers presence was agitating Cahill Jr., so to deescalate the scene, uniformed officers were ordered to leave and were replaced with officers in plain clothes to monitor Cahill Jr.’s actions.
Cahill Jr. told LebTown minutes after the siege ended that he didn’t know why the police were there, but refused to talk to them and stayed inside an office area on the building’s first floor until the police left. He denied any wrongdoing.
Public Defender Michael Light introduced three photographs as evidence from later on the same day of the incident showing Melendez leaning against the door of the business, chatting with Cahill Jr.
While the prosecution said during closing arguments that Melendez was afraid for his life, Light noted that the three photographs showed that he was relaxed and was not afraid of being shot earlier in the day. He also noted the time discrepancy from when Melendez first contacted Cahill Jr. until police were called to the scene.
After the case, Deiderick told LebTown that the prosecution “respects the process, respects the role of the court” in returning the unanimous decisions for the four charges.
Light said the defense was “elated” with the jury’s decisions, adding that they anticipated guilty verdicts for the disorderly conduct charges while focusing their defense on the weapons possession and terroristic threat charges.
“We knew we weren’t going to get around the disorderly conduct charges,” Light said. “When he came back later in the day, you could see that he wasn’t that scared (about what happened earlier).”
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