Somerset County DA's accuser agrees PFA not needed given bond conditions on him

The attorney for a woman seeking a protection from abuse order against embattled Somerset County District Attorney Jeffery Lynn Thomas on Friday agreed to withdraw her petition.

Somerset lawyer Matt Zatko said his client filed the petition seeking the protection of the court the day after Thomas was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting and strangling her in her home on Sept. 18.

Zatko said his client’s need for court protection became unnecessary after Thomas waived a preliminary hearing on multiple criminal counts and was released on a $5,000 bond, pending court action on the charges. The conditions of his bond prohibits him from having any contact with the woman.

“The protections offered to the victim by the defendant’s bail bond are far greater than anything a civil protection order court provide. He violates his bond, he goes to jail,” Zatko said, following an online hearing Friday.

State police initially charged Thomas with rape and related offenses following his arrest on Sept. 22. Prosecutors from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office later dropped the rape charge, but allowed multiple criminal counts to stand, including sexual assault and strangulation.

Zatko said his client, who reported the assault, welcomes the opportunity to have charges against Thomas heard in a criminal courtroom.

The 36-year-old prosecutor, who maintains his innocence on all charges, has been on a leave of absence from the district attorney’s office for the last month. On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court disciplinary panel temporarily suspended his law license, but noted the action did not strip him of his elective post.

Thomas faces formal arraignment on criminal charges in Somerset County Common Pleas Court on Nov. 4.

He was elected district attorney in 2019, after besting two-term DA Lisa Lazzari Strasiser.