Upper Gwynedd Woman Arrested on Third Set of Forgery Charges This Year

North Penn Now Staff•

An Upper Gwynedd woman is facing more than two dozen new charges stemming from an alleged scheme to open fraudulent cellular phone accounts in order to acquire and pawn off the new phones.

According to the criminal complaint, Towamencin Township Police were dispatched to the 1700 block of Allentown Road on June 22 for a report of a theft in progress. Upon arrival, staff at the Verizon Store stated that an Asian woman—later identified as 34-year-old Amanda Topham, of the unit block of Kerwick Court—was trying to acquire new phones from an account that had been deemed fraudulent, the report states.

When the store staff refused, Topham allegedly grabbed the store’s demo iPhone XS and fled the scene in a vehicle registered to her mother, according to the report.

Staff told police that the phone was valued at $1,110, and added that Topham had previously acquired four iPhones from a different account under her mother’s name, police said.

Investigators then checked pawn data, which allegedly showed that Topham had been involved in 30 pawn events involving cellular devices, including 13 where she was allegedly directly responsible for selling the devices, and another 17 where she was captured on surveillance standing with the person who was selling the device, according to the report.

Using Internet Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, investigators learned that Topham had allegedly opened two accounts at the Hilltown Walmart, under the names of a Towamencin couple who had previously been targeted by Topham’s illegal activities. In total, Topham was able to secure four iPhones under the two fraudulent accounts, which were then allegedly pawned off as follows:

iPhone dispensed for account #1, later allegedly pawned by Topham’s father, Barry, with Topham standing next to him
iPhone dispensed for account #2, later allegedly pawned by Topham’s father, Barry, with Topham standing next to him
iPhone dispensed for second line for account #1, not located or recovered
iPhone dispensed for second line for account #2, later allegedly pawned by Daniel Huertas-Rodriguez, 29, of Philadelphia, with Topham standing next to him

Security footage from Walmart and the pawn shops allegedly showed Amanda at the scene of each incident, the report states. Total value of the four iPhones was $2,992.04, according to the report.

On Aug. 28, investigators met with Topham’s father, Barry, who allegedly stated that he helped her open accounts so she could sell the phones to get money to pay her bills, the report states. Barry allegedly added that Amanda had used his info to open at least two accounts, totaling six phones that were then pawned, according to the report.

When asked about the accounts opened at Walmart, Barry allegedly said he had no knowledge of them, but he frequently pawned phones for her to help her with her bills, the report states.

As a result of the investigation:

• Amanda Topham has been charged with felony counts of dealing in unlawful proceeds, conspiracy to deal in unlawful proceeds, forgery and identity theft, along with misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property, conspiracy to receive stolen property, theft by unlawful taking, conspiracy to commit theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception.

• Daniel Huertas-Rodriguez has been charged with one felony count of dealing in unlawful proceeds, along with misdemeanor counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property and related conspiracy charges.

Topham and Huertas-Rodriguez were arraigned on Nov. 7 by Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine, who set bail at $20,000 cash for Topham and $20,000 unsecured for Huertas-Rodriguez. Topham was then remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post bail, and Huertas-Rodriguez posted his bond signature.

Court records indicate that on Nov. 14, prosecutors agreed to reduce Topham’s bail to 10-percent of $2,000 in exchange for Topham waiving her preliminary hearing. She was then bailed out by Huertas-Rodriguez, the records state.

Topham’s next court appearance is a formal arraignment at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on Jan. 2, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. She remains free on probation at this time.

Other Topham Arrests This Year

The arrests for Amanda Topham this year began in March, when she was arrested by the Whitpain Township Police Department on March 18 on misdemeanor charges of retail theft and receiving stolen property, in connection with an incident that occurred at Kohl's in Center Square.

That case was resolved on Sept. 20, when she struck a negotiated plea deal on the retail theft charge. As a result of the plea agreement, Topham was sentenced to three years of probation, she was prohibited from going into Kohl's, and the receiving stolen property charge was dropped.

On April 4, Topham was charged by the Towamencin Township Police Department with six felony counts of forgery, two felony counts of attempted forgery, two felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, one felony count of theft by deception, one felony count of attempted theft by deception, and one felony count of dealing in illegal proceeds, in addition to 13 misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property and two misdemeanor counts of attempted theft. (Read more here.)

Those charges were also resolved on Sept. 20, when Topham struck a negotiated plea deal that had her plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property. All other charges were dropped, and Topham was sentenced to five years of probation concurrent to the prior probation sentence. Topham was additionally given 24 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay restitution to the victims—the same ones mentioned in the report above.

On April 24, Topham was again charged by the Towamencin Township Police Department with felony counts of forgery and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities, as well as misdemeanor counts of receiving stolen property, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception, in connection with the second investigation. (Read more here.)

Those charges were also resolved on Sept. 20, when Topham struck a negotiated plea deal that had her plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property, while all other charges were dropped. Topham was sentenced to an additional four years of probation as a result of the agreement, though court records do not indicated if that period is consecutive or concurrent.

Prior to 2019, Topham pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of writing bad checks in October 2007.

Additionally, her father, Barry, was charged with one misdemeanor count of making false reports by the Lansdale Borough Police Department on Sept. 30 of this year, though the circumstances surrounding that charge are unknown at this time.

(Editor’s note: All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause, and reflects the point of view of the police. Should the defendant choose to issue a public statement, or is later found not guilty or has the charges dropped, we will update this article accordingly.)