Mistaken ID leads to dropped charge

Tamaqua police have withdrawn charges against Codie John Welfel, 22, of 250 Second St., Coaldale, after discovering that his brother, John W. Welfel, 23, of Tamaqua, has been using his brother's name when being arrested.

State Constable David Kneller thought he took Codie into custody on Nov. 16, at 101 W. Rowe St., Tamaqua, on an outstanding arrest warrant. The man he picked up, who turned out to be John Welfel, had a syringe in his pants pocket. The syringe was turned over to Tamaqua police to file charges of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Since the original arrest warrant was mistakenly issued in Codie's name, the new charges were also filed in John's name.

Law enforcement, who became aware of the misidentification after a Times News article was published Wednesday, withdrew the charges against Codie and filed charges against John Welfel for the paraphernalia possession.