NORRISTOWN — Two disgraced former clerks at a district court in Lower Merion Township showed no emotion as a judge called them “thieves” and chastised them for breaking the public’s trust by scheming to pocket monies people paid for traffic and parking related citations.
“Your conduct was selfish and a result of personal greed. You knew better,” Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein sternly addressed Lisa Anne Shopa and Patricia Anne Althouse on Friday, adding the women were in positions of trust as court clerks and breached that trust multiple times by making conscious decisions to steal. “Yes, you are both thieves.”
Each of the women pleaded guilty to theft-related charges and received sentences that combined jail time, house arrest and probation in connection with thefts totaling $7,500 that occurred between January and October 2024 while they worked in the office of District Court Judge Michael Quinn in the Narberth section of Lower Merion…