Maurice Davis Jr., 32, of Brooklyn, New York, was ordered held without bail at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility after an arraignment tied to an alleged firearm incident at the Sherman Hills apartment complex. District Judge Daniel O’Donnell of Butler Township determined that Davis posed a threat, according to court records reported by the Times Leader.
The allegations have not been adjudicated. Davis faces charges including aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, evading arrest, forgery, theft, possession of a controlled substance, possession of a small amount of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a firearm without a license, the Times Leader reported.
What the records allege
The case began with a police investigation at a Sheetz on Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard, where officers said two counterfeit $100 bills were used for a Cash App reload. The records say an officer later encountered Davis near Building 304 shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday and believed he resembled the person sought in that investigation. Police allege that Davis pulled a 9mm handgun from his waistband and ran into the building; officers established a perimeter and took him into custody shortly after 6 p.m., according to the Times Leader.
Police also allege that a search of an apartment found a Ruger 9mm pistol, Davis’s New York identification card, suspected marijuana, suspected crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Court records reportedly identify the gun as registered to a woman who lives in Monroe County. The available account does not establish how the firearm came to be in the apartment or whether the registered owner knew it was there, the Times Leader reported.
What detention without bail means
Davis’s detention is a pretrial decision, not a finding that he committed the charged offenses. A publication from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedural Rules Committee says defendants generally are released subject to conditions, but detention may be permitted when no available condition or combination of conditions can reasonably assure that release is consistent with the purpose of bail. The judge’s reported threat finding is therefore distinct from the eventual question of whether prosecutors can prove the charges, as outlined by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Sherman Hills context
The current case is not the first firearm-related incident publicly reported at Sherman Hills, although prior incidents are not evidence that the events are connected or that they establish a trend. The Times Leader previously reported a separate March 23 shooting in which Keith Brian Hayes allegedly shot Brandon Eubanks, 23, in an apartment-high-rise hallway before Hayes was later captured in New York City. That report involved different people, circumstances and allegations.
Sherman Hills Apts is listed at 300 Parkview Cir. ProPublica’s HUD Inspect database, which cites U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data, lists May 16, 2018, as the development’s last inspection. That housing-record information provides property background but does not explain or establish the circumstances of the current criminal case, according to ProPublica’s HUD Inspect database.
