A Jenkins Township nurse has filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution by a state narcotics agent. Shannon Curry, through her attorney William I. Abraham, filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on June 21, 2024, naming Agent Kelly Poray and twenty unidentified supervisors from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General as defendants.
The case stems from an incident in March 2022 when Poray was contacted by Plains Township Police regarding a theft of controlled substances at Timber Ridge nursing facility in Wilkes-Barre. Curry, who worked there as a licensed practical nurse through a temp agency, was accused by Poray of illegally acquiring Oxycodone prescribed to a patient. Following what Curry describes as an inadequate investigation, Poray filed a criminal complaint and affidavit of probable cause on May 31, 2022, leading to Curry's arrest on June 23, 2022. The charges included obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and possession of a controlled substance.
Curry was detained for approximately twelve hours before being released on bail posted by her husband. On August 3, 2022, all charges were dismissed during a preliminary hearing for lack of evidence. According to the complaint, this ordeal caused Curry significant emotional distress, loss of employment and income, damage to her reputation and personal relationships, and ongoing legal costs.
The lawsuit claims that Poray's actions violated Curry's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and her Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. Additionally, it accuses the supervisory defendants of failing to properly train or oversee Poray’s conduct and not intervening to prevent these alleged constitutional violations.
Curry is seeking compensatory damages exceeding $150,000 per count from each defendant named in the suit. She also requests punitive damages against the individual defendants in their personal capacities for their willful misconduct. Furthermore, she seeks injunctive relief to prevent future violations of similar nature and demands reasonable attorney's fees and costs under federal civil rights laws.
Representing Shannon Curry is William I. Abraham from Abraham Law based in Plains Township. The case is assigned Case ID: 3:24-cv-01026-JKM with Judge JKM presiding over it.