Bucks County woman, softball coach, accused of improper contact with Montgomery County girl

NORRISTOWN — A Bucks County woman and former softball team coach accused of having inappropriate contact with an underage Montgomery County girl on the team wants a judge to suppress information obtained from her cellphones and from a statement she gave detectives as evidence from her upcoming trial.

Sydney Palmer, through her lawyer, claimed that detectives did not have probable cause to search her cellular phones, that she did not give valid consent to search the phones and that a statement she gave to detectives on Feb. 15, 2023, was improperly obtained.

“I’m asking you to grant the defense motion and suppress the evidence that was obtained from the phones, the contents thereof, and any and all information obtained from Ms. Palmer,” defense lawyer Louis R. Busico argued during a recent pretrial hearing.

Specifically, Busico claimed Palmer’s statement to detectives “was the product of physical or psychological coercion” and that she wasn’t properly advised of her rights before being questioned. The warrants to search Palmer’s electronic devices “were defective on their face and issued without probable cause,” Busico argued.

Palmer, 29, who at the time of her arrest was residing in the unit block of Dorchester Lane in Richboro, Bucks County, faces charges of sexual assault by a volunteer or employee of a nonprofit association, indecent assault of someone under 16, corruption of a minor, unlawful contact or communication with a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal use of a communication facility and tampering with evidence in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between 2020 and 2023 with a girl who was between 14- and 16-years-old.

At the time of the alleged incidents, Palmer was a volunteer coach with the Bucks County Militia softball team, a nonprofit organization, and the girl, of Abington, was a player on the team, according to court documents filed by Abington detectives.

Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Caroline Rose Goldstein argued the search warrants were “fair and legally appropriate and supported by probable cause” and that Palmer gave detectives consent to search her phones and gave a voluntary statement to detectives.

“There was no force. There were no threats, no coercion, nothing. It was a conversation. The consent was completely voluntary. And this isn’t a total mystery to the defendant. Her father’s a detective. So, this isn’t somebody who doesn’t have some familiarity with the system,” Goldstein argued during the hearing, asking the judge to deny the defense request to throw out the prosecution’s evidence.

Judge Thomas P. Rogers took the defense request under advisement and will rule at a later date. The judge has not yet set Palmer’s trial date.

Palmer remains free on bail pending her trial.

An investigation began in February 2023 when Abington police received a ChildLine report regarding an alleged inappropriate relationship between a 16-year-old girl and her travel softball team coach named “Syd,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Abington Detective Jeffrey Anderson.

“The report provided that the player and coach had been on and off dating for the last two years” and that the girl had been in Palmer’s hotel room while attending a travel tournament, according to the arrest affidavit.

The investigation led to the identification of Palmer and the underage girl and the girl’s parents were contacted, court documents indicate.

The victim’s mother told detectives she had located “inappropriate conversations” on the girl’s phone between Palmer and the girl two years prior. The parents confronted Palmer regarding the messages and at the time Palmer denied anything inappropriate had occurred, detectives said.

The girl and her parents gave detectives permission to download the contents of the girl’s cellphone and authorities uncovered “a large amount of video calls” to a Snapchat account linked to Palmer, according to arrest documents. Detectives alleged one of those videos depicted Palmer and the victim kissing.

The victim told detectives the kiss occurred in the rear seat of Palmer’s vehicle.

With a search warrant, detectives also seized two cellphones belonging to Palmer. After the search warrant was executed, Palmer agreed to give a voluntary statement, detectives said.

Palmer allegedly told detectives she had picked up the victim, away from her residence, and drove her to school on multiple occasions without obtaining permission from the girl’s parents.

“Palmer admitted she would also meet the victim in a location away from her residence. The two would meet in Palmer’s vehicle to talk,” Anderson alleged, referring to Palmer’s statement. “When shown the picture of the victim and another person engaging in a kiss, Palmer confirmed she was the other person in the picture.”

Detectives alleged a review of Palmer’s Instagram account also revealed messages between Palmer and the girl, including messages in which the girl informed Palmer that her mother found messages between them on her phone in October 2021.

Palmer, detectives alleged, coordinated with the girl for Palmer to log into the girl’s Snapchat account and delete their conversations. The victim commented “there’s a lot of bad stuff,” according to the arrest documents.

“Palmer said she hoped the victim’s parents did not go to the police,” Anderson alleged.