{"id":180942,"date":"2026-05-01T05:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T05:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180942\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T05:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T05:52:17","slug":"sharon-hill-police-chief-out-on-medical-leave-after-2-officers-charged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/180942\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Hill police chief out on medical leave after 2 officers charged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sharon Hill Police Chief Richard Herron is out on medical leave after two of his officers were charged last week with allegedly providing confidential information to a known drug dealer, according to sources familiar with the situation.<\/p>\n

Folcroft Deputy Police Chief Chris Eiserman, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 27, said Herron has not resigned and has no plans of resigning, despite word in the community to the contrary.<\/p>\n

Borough Manager Joy Taylor said council is not commenting at this time.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Dave Sunday filed charges against Sharon Hill Detective Vincent Procopio and Officer Domenic Dellabarba for obstruction, bribery, hindering apprehension and other offenses connected to a drug dealer Thursday.<\/a> That was associated with search warrants served on the officers in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The officers were placed on paid administrative leave at that time, but were suspended without pay following their arrests, according to a statement from the borough. One tendered his resignation.<\/p>\n

The community comments included that Herron had been given an ultimatum in the wake of those arrests to either resign or be terminated. Neither of those things has happened, Eiserman said.<\/p>\n

Herron became a full-time officer in the borough in January 2008 and rose through the ranks to become chief in November 2015. He also previously served as president and executive board chairman of the Delaware County Police Chiefs Association.<\/p>\n

During his tenure as the Sharon Hill chief, Herron has overseen a department that was sometimes in the news for the wrong reasons. Three of his officers \u2014 Devon Smith, Sean Patrick Dolan, and Brian J. Devaney<\/a> \u2014 were charged with the shooting death of Fanta Bility in August 2021 and later pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment.<\/p>\n

That case prompted the borough to hire an investigator who looked into department policies, resulting in a report that cited various deficiencies with officer training<\/a>. Herron said in 2024 that Sharon Hill was implementing those policies.<\/p>\n

Former Sharon Hill Officer Tyler Humphreys was also charged with child rape<\/a> and related offenses in Chester County in 2023. He entered open guilty pleas in March to charges of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than 16 years old, corruption of minors, indecent assault and aggravated indecent assault.<\/p>\n

Then came the charges against Procopio and Dellabarba, which many in the Delaware County District Attorney\u2019s Office described as a \u201cbetrayal\u201d and the phrase \u201cworking for the other team\u201d was used.<\/p>\n

Borough council issued a statement after those officers were charged that read, in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cThese charges bring sorrow and disappointment to our community. \u2026 These allegations are deeply concerning and must be addressed with the utmost seriousness and transparency.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth individuals are entitled to due process under the law. Sharon Hill Borough respects the legal process and will allow it to move forward appropriately.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, let us be completely clear: Sharon Hill Borough and its officials stand firmly against all unethical, immoral, corrupt, and vile activity that affects the health and well-being of our borough, surrounding communities and nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken swift action. We have already suspended the arrested officers without pay and will take severe action, including termination, of all involved. One officer has tendered his resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to fully cooperate with both the Delaware County District Attorney\u2019s Office and the Pennsylvania Office of theAttorney General to ensure justice is served.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur community has already endured significant pain related to police misconduct in recent years, including the tragic death of 8-year-old Fanta Bility, which deeply impacted residents and families throughout Sharon Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose events required our community to confront difficult realities surrounding accountability, training and public trust. Today\u2019s announcement understandably reopens those concerns for many residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

District Attorney Tanner Rouse had no comment about Herron\u2019s employment status, except to say that he was not part of any criminal investigation related to Procopio and Dellabarba that his office undertook, nor was he aware of any other criminal investigation into the chief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sharon Hill Police Chief Richard Herron is out on medical leave after two of his officers were charged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[202,212,182,139,28,69,71,70,19160,210],"class_list":["post-180942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-delaware-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sharon-hill","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}