A Carbon County judge took under advisement on Tuesday afternoon motions filed by defense attorneys for two Pennsylvania state troopers charged with hacking a Jim Thorpe woman’s Facebook account.

Troopers want to have the charges dropped because they say evidence presented at a preliminary hearing does not support them.

Judge Steven R. Serfass conducted a hearing on the two requests filed by attorney James A. Swetz, representing Erin K. Cawley, and Brett J. Riegel, representing Anthony K. Kingsley.

State Police at Fern Ridge filed felony charges of computer trespass and unlawful use of a computer against Cawley and Kingsley

They have been accused of using a Facebook account belonging to a Jim Thorpe woman to print and delete some of her private messages without her permission. The victim said she had an affair with Kingsley before the incident, which testimony revealed Cawley found out about.

The hacking occurred in January 2017, which the woman told police was about five months after the affair ended.

The troopers, who were stationed at the Lehighton barracks when the charges were filed, have since married and reside in the Walnutport area.

They are seeking to have the information gained from four search warrants issued to the investigating officer be suppressed because they say the warrants should not have been issued in the first place.

Sgt. James Youngblood, the investigating officer for the state police, was the lone witness at the hearing. He testified to the four warrants he obtained during the course of his investigation. He said the case was initially reported to Jim Thorpe police who then turned it over to state police.

Youngblood said the victim told him that Kingsley had her login and password because they had an affair between January and August 2016. She said Kingsley asked her to use her account on two specific occasions to look up charity events that benefited police charities. In each case, she said, he told her that he was going to use the account, and then told her again that he was done. The affair ended later and the woman told Youngblood that they agreed not to have any contact with each other.

Under questioning by defense, Youngblood admitted he never told the magistrate who issued the warrants about Kingsley having access to the Facebook account of the victim, but said he felt it was not relevant in that only Kingsley had the password. Youngblood said the victim only gave the password to another friend for a purchase.

He said the victim assumed Kingsley would not use the password because of their decision to have no contact with each other after the affair ended.

Youngblood also admitted that the victim never changed the password, something she could have easily done to protect her account.

Both attorneys argued that the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing in the matter was not sufficient to substantiate the charges filed.

Swetz said the conspiracy charge against his client had no weight as the evidence did not show that Cawley had access to the account.

Riegel also argued that Youngblood misrepresented the information he submitted in obtaining the search warrants and they should not have been issued. He said if the court rules they should not have been issued, then any information gained from the warrants should be suppressed by the court.

Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Anne Elo, who is prosecuting the case, said the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing was more than enough to establish a prima facie case. She also said the evidence showed in 2017 Cawley had access to the account and used it against the victim. She said the warrants were obtained by truthful information provided by Youngblood to the magistrate. She asked that Serfass deny both motions.

Serfass said he would rule on the matter at a later date.

Both Cawley and Kingsley have been on suspension since the charges were filed. A pretrial conference was scheduled for next month but it will be continued until at least after Serfass issues a ruling.