ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Lehigh County judge has denied a request by former Parkland schools administrator Francis Anonia to suppress evidence allegedly recovered from Anonia’s cell phone that led to charges he secretly recorded a student undressing.
Judge Robert L. Steinberg issued the order Friday.
In his ruling, Steinberg said Anonia abandoned any expectation of privacy when he surrendered his phone to authorities in an unrelated, separate investigation involving Anonia’s fiance months before Anonia was arrested.
Wrote Steinberg in his ruling: “Based upon the totality of circumstances, including the images found on other devices within the defendant’s household as part of a child pornography investigation, and Detective (Gregg) Dietz’s discovery of the defendant’s improper contact with students under his supervision, there was substantial basis for concluding that there was a fair probability that the defendant’s cell phone contained evidence of crimes
Anonia, 44, of Allentown, is a former performing arts administrator for the Parkland School District.
He faces 19 criminal charges in all, including invasion of privacy, unlawful recording and criminal use of a communications facility.
County detectives say they found videos on Anonia’s cell phone secretly recording a Parkland High School student changing clothes in a dressing room during rehearsals for a school musical.
In August, Anonia’s attorney, Richard Coble, asked Steinberg to throw out any evidence retrieved from the phone, arguing that investigators obtained and searched the device illegally.
Coble contended that a form Anonia signed did not give permission for county detectives to keep his cell phone, and that a search warrant investigators received before searching the phone failed to meet the legal standard for probable cause.
According to court documents, Allentown detectives seized Anonia’s cell phone in February 2023, more than a year before Anonia’s arrest, as part of an investigation into William Marshall, Anonia’s 30-year-old fiance who previously lived in Anonia’s Allentown home.
Anonia was not charged in connection with that investigation, but he never got his phone back.
Lehigh County detectives began investigating him in April 2024, after receiving a ChildLine report that Anonia made sexually suggestive comments to a student, according to court filings.
As part of that investigation, Detective Dietz interviewed Anonia on April 16, 2024. During the interview, Anonia signed a form “abandoning” his cell phone, prosecutors said.
Steinberg’s ruling Friday means that the case will proceed to trial. It is scheduled to begin Dec. 1.
Anonia resigned from his Parkland job in June 2024.
