Judge keeps defendant in Pharaoh case in prison

John T. “Tommy O” Ermin sought his release based in part on a co-defendant's text messages, which his defense attorney said “show something completely different” than prosecutors' statements to Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford that led them to in January to order his detention on the grounds that he posed a danger to the community.

In September, U.S. Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy declined to reopen Ermin's detention hearing after hearing conflicting accounts from the Lancaster man, who was accused of being part of a conspiracy that led to the death of witness Crystal Quinn had led.

Ermin appealed McCarthy's decision, and now U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo has upheld McCarthy's ruling.

“This court concludes that, even assuming for the sake of argument that discovery undermines the dangerousness finding, as Ermin suggests, it has identified no new information that would justify overturning Chief Justice Wolford's finding “that he poses a flight risk,” Vilardo said in his ruling.

A 28-count supplemental indictment unsealed earlier this year names six people as part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice. Four of them are charged with retaliation against Quinn: Peter Gerace Jr., the owner of Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club, is now on trial on a variety of charges, including sex trafficking and drug trafficking; Howard Hinkle Jr., one of the last people to interact with Quinn in the days before her death; Ermin, a manager of Pharaoh; and Simon Gogolack, who called 911 to report Quinn's death at his home and is accused of giving Quinn a fatal dose of fentanyl.

Quinn's overdose death in 2023 sparked a federal investigation. The Pharaoh's former employee and friend of Gerace knew several members of the Outlaws and provided information about them to FBI agents, according to court documents. About four months before her death, Quinn signed a formal cooperation agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office to testify in Gerace's trial.

In a separate decision, Vilardo kept Hinkle in custody and the case against him continued.

In September, McCarthy ordered Hinkle's release under strict conditions, including house arrest and electronic monitoring. Hinkle, 49, allegedly warned the former Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club dancer about a bounty on her life, according to previous prosecutors' arguments and documents filed in U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors asked Vilardo to revoke McCarthy's order releasing Hinkle, who was jailed by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. on Nov. 3, 2023.

Defense attorneys for the defendants said the information prosecutors have shared about their evidence gives them new arguments for detaining their clients that were not available to them at the initial detention hearings. The new information included text messages that, according to attorney George VC Muscato, who represents Ermin, made it clear that Gogolack and Quinn were romantically involved and Quinn wanted to be with Gogolack.

“Even assuming for the sake of argument that the Gogolack interview and other discoveries undermine the government's allegations that Hinkle was involved in Quinn's death, those allegations were not central to Judge Sinatra's decision,” Vilardo said , as he blocked Hinkle's release.

Sinatra based his arrest decision on dangerousness, which included the quantities of marijuana plants and firearms, the placement of weapons in Hinkle's home and Hinkle's dangerous behavior when FBI agents evacuated his home, Vilardo said.

“This court concludes that the new information in the Gogolack interview would not have changed Judge Sinatra's calculation, which was affirmed by the Second Circuit,” Vilardo said.