CLEARFIELD – A New Yorker who was caught by 814 Pred Hunters in January and who more recently made allegations of being held in Clearfield County Jail illegally was scheduled for court Tuesday.
Shyam Pranami Gouli, 34, of Hicksville, N.Y., was held in county jail in lieu of $250,000 monetary bail following his Jan. 4 arrest.
Court documents indicate he was accused of taking a train and a bus to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl at the courthouse plaza in downtown Clearfield.
Instead, he met the 814 group whose leader gave police a large binder of messages that Gouli had exchanged with a decoy over a two-and-a-half-month period.
After finding out the decoy’s age on Oct. 17, 2022, police say Gouli continued to solicit sex and arranged his travel from New York to meet her.
In a message dated Dec. 27, 2022, he reportedly had the decoy “promise not to tell anyone” … “I could go to jail because you are not 18.”
And just days before he arrived in Clearfield, Gouli sent numerous sexually-explicit messages including 10 images and a video of himself as well as other pornographic videos.
For this he was facing two criminal charges, including felony corruption of minors and criminal use of communication facility
In April Gouli filed a prisoner-civil rights lawsuit through the U.S. District Court in Scranton that has since been transferred to Johnstown, and alleged he’s served his sentence and was being held illegally.
In court Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney Trudy Lumadue said the DA’s office had initial discussions and made a plea offer to Gouli in January, but it wasn’t accepted and placed on the record.
It was reportedly for a 90-day sentence, and at that point, Gouli had already served 28 days.
But when he didn’t agree, court documents indicate his case got scheduled for jury selection in early June, with a three-day trial to occur Aug. 16-18.
Gouli, however, claimed otherwise in his lawsuit, which named both the Clearfield County District Attorney’s office and Public Defender’s office.
He alleged he did agree to plead guilty on Jan. 23 and to serve 90 days, which expired April 3, but was still being held—”illegally and against my will.”
Further, he alleged to have sent correspondence to the court requesting release but never received any response.
Gouli said he had a total of seven court proceedings cancelled, which has caused extreme duress and sleep deprivation since he’s been unable to support his family.
On Tuesday, Gouli’s attorney, Chris Pentz of the Public Defender’s office asked the court to withdraw as counsel, citing the lawsuit now puts him in an “adversarial position.”
Because the DA’s office was also named as a defendant, Lumadue said she was unsure if it could proceed with prosecution of the case, and that it may possibly turn it over to the state Attorney General’s office to ensure it is handled properly.
President Judge Fredric Ammerman said if the court granted Pentz’s petition to withdraw as counsel and the DA’s office transferred the case to OAG, it would only delay resolution of the case.
While he did admit Gouli had created a “real mess” for himself by filing the lawsuit, he said it was obvious Gouli thought he had entered into some type of plea agreement.
Ammerman said he wasn’t going to tell anyone what to do or how to proceed but suggested that both sides—if comfortable—should proceed with a plea so Gouli could just be sentenced.
At that point, Lumadue indicated there had been a time-served plea prepared during a pre-trial conference May 11, but it was never filed for reasons unbeknownst to her.
Later Pentz offered some explanation, saying it likely wasn’t signed and finalized because Gouli has had an issue with admittance of guilt.
Eventually, Ammerman denied Pentz’s motion and both sides agreed to reenter plea negotiations with Gouli in order to resolve the matter.
He pleaded guilty to attempt-corruption of minors—a misdemeanor of the first-degree, and received a minimum sentence of time-served (128 days).
Because it was after 4:30 p.m., Ammerman said Gouli would be processed and released from Clearfield County Jail on Wednesday morning.