Ex-Frackville police chief, officer and borough sued over alleged wrongful arrest
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Frackville Police Chief Paul Olson responds to an accusation by ex-Patrolman Devin Dellock, alleging that he confronted her at her home while she was off-duty, at a meeting of Frackville Borough Council on April 13, 2023.
FRACKVILLE – Frackville’s embattled former police chief is now being sued by the man he and a fellow officer allegedly mistakenly arrested, prompting the chief’s firing and a lawsuit contesting the termination.
Former Frackville Police Chief Paul Olson is named as a defendant along with the Borough of Frackville, Patrolman Joseph Murton, and Schuylkill County in a federal lawsuit filed March 18 by Joshua Lindenmuth, a 21-year-old Frackville man.
At issue is an August 19, 2025 arrest made by Olson and Murton.
Lindenmuth’s vehicles were marked “Tag to Tow” prompting a call to the police department and a response by Olson and Murton.
According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the police officers questioned the man, then 20, about an incident in which a car struck a fence at the Arch Street Park in Frackville.
Instead of resolving the tow tag issue, the complaint states Lindenmuth was told to put his hands behind his back, that he was under arrest on an outstanding bench warrant.
“[Lindenmuth] was shocked given that he had never been in trouble with the law before and asked what the warrant was for,” the complaint reads. The two officers claimed the warrant was for failing to appear for court, though the man had never been scheduled for a court appearance. He had no criminal history whatosever.
The warrant was for a different, 32-year-old Joshua Lindenmuth from the Shenandoah area.
The officers looked at Lindenmuth’s license, “looked at it for a brief second, then incredulously claimed to have confirmed [he] was the correct individual subject to the bench warrant.”
This despite Lindenmuth having a vertical junior driver’s license which a 32-year-old could not have.
The lawsuit alleges that the two officers “failed to take any reasonable steps to confirm that the biographical information for the individual they were seeking matched the person they had apprehended.”
Lindenmuth was then taken to the Schuylkill County Prison and booked. Prison personnel allegedly indicated they believed he was correct when he said he was the wrong person, “but that given the hour in the day, they would not be able to do anything about it until [he] attended court the following day.” It was around 4:45pm
He was strip searched and placed into a cell. Later in the evening, he was taken for a medical examination “and administered a tuberculosis vaccination without his consent.”
At a meeting around 7am the next morning in preparation for a court appearance, Lindenmuth told who he believed was a member of the Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office his birthday and was released shortly thereafter, after 15 hours in jail.
“A simple comparison of [his] date of birth with the warrant subject’s identifying information would have immediately confirmed [he] was not the person sought,” the complaint said. “[Officers] ignored readily available exculpatory information and continued [Lindenmuth’s] detention despite obvious discrepancies.”
Lindenmuth alleges unlawful seizure, false arrest, among other charges, and is seeking a monetary judgment for compensatory, special, and punitive damages.
Olson was fired in December by a 4-3 vote stemming from the incident. Murton resigned at the same time.
He sued in January seeking reinstatement and back pay.
About Author
