A Lehigh County judge has dropped criminal charges against two Lackawanna County men who promised local towns a windfall of savings by buying street lights from PPL instead of leasing them. The company operated by the men, Municipal Energy Managers, would upgrade and maintain the lights and seek better energy rates, they told the towns.

However, after the towns, which include Tamaqua, Coaldale, Lansford, Nesquehoning, Jim Thorpe, and Stroudsburg, took out hefty loans to pay for the contract, but the deal fell through.The criminal charges against Robert J. Kearns and Patrick J. McLeane were filed two years ago after investigators learned they spent $160,182 that Coplay Borough gave them in June 2009 under the contract.The men deposited the money in MEM account. But by April 2012, the streetlights had been bought, and the money was gone from the account, according to Banach's ruling.On May 29 2013, they were charged with theft by failure to required disposition of funds, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy.Last week, Judge Kelly L. Banach ruled there wasn't enough evidence to support a criminal case, and dismissed the charges."The Court finds that the Commonwealth has failed to present sufficient ... evidence to substantiate each of the elements of the crimes charged against the defendants," Banach wrote in a 17-page ruling.She suggested the matter be argued in civil court.It's not clear exactly how the ruling will impact, if at all, the local boroughs that had borrowed heavily to enter contracts with MEM. Coaldale had borrowed $182,400, and Lansford $306,100.Efforts to reach attorney Michael Greek, who serves as solicitor for some of the boroughs who contracted with MEM, were unsuccessful.Last June, a Northampton County judge sentenced the men to six months to one year in jail for siphoning $832,460 given by Bethlehem Township from their business bank account to their personal accounts and spending it.