Harassment and stalking are separate Pennsylvania offenses with different elements, grading, and required patterns of conduct. Some harassment theories can arise from a single act, while stalking generally focuses on a course of conduct and specified intent or effect. Texts, calls, social media, location data, witness accounts, and any PFA or no-contact order often become central. The defense must begin with the exact subsection and the complete communication history.
Is this your situation?
A one-event harassment allegation, a repeated-communication harassment charge and a stalking course-of-conduct charge have different elements and grading, and the same communications may also be used in a PFA, custody, workplace, or probation proceeding.
- Police allege repeated calls, messages, monitoring, following, online contact, or unwanted appearances.
- A single confrontation, physical contact, threat, or communication resulted in a harassment citation or complaint.
- A former partner, family member, neighbor, coworker, or acquaintance also sought a PFA or no-contact condition.
- The communications are incomplete, edited, spoofed, shared-account activity, or lack context.
- Necessary parenting, work, housing, or property communication is being characterized as prohibited contact.
Immediate risks
Further contact can worsen the criminal allegation or violate a separate order. Preserve complete records, stop public commentary, use only court-authorized communication methods, and obtain advice before trying to explain or reconcile directly with the complainant.
- A PFA, bail condition, probation term, or workplace directive may prohibit contact beyond what a party informally requests.
- Deleting messages, accounts, device data, or location history can destroy favorable evidence and create credibility concerns.
- Responding publicly or repeatedly can expand the alleged course of conduct even when intended as self-defense or clarification.
- Criminal, PFA, custody, employment, and school proceedings may use overlapping evidence but apply different standards.
- Shared devices, accounts, phone numbers, or parenting applications require careful attribution and preservation.
What happens next?
Procedure depends on grading and related cases. Not every unwanted communication satisfies the elements of stalking.
- 1
Identify each allegation and order
Counsel reviews the citation or complaint, alleged dates and contacts, exact subsection, and every active PFA, bail, probation, custody, or workplace restriction.
- 2
Preserve the complete record
Messages, call logs, social content, metadata, devices, location information, parenting-app records, and witness evidence should be preserved in context.
- 3
Initial court proceeding
Procedure depends on whether the case is charged as a summary offense or misdemeanor and whether related PFA or criminal matters are pending.
- 4
Element and admissibility review
The defense examines identity, intent, course of conduct where required, legitimate purpose, context, authentication, hearsay, and whether protected activity is being mischaracterized.
- 5
Resolution or hearing
The matter may be dismissed, resolved, or adjudicated. Any no-contact or related order remains enforceable until the issuing court changes it.
How counsel helps
Counsel should reconstruct the full communication record and separate identity, context, purpose, intent, repetition, authentication, and order compliance. Necessary co-parenting or business contact must be addressed through lawful channels, not self-created exceptions.
- Separate harassment, stalking, threat, PFA, custody, and no-contact allegations and identify the standard governing each.
- Preserve complete communication threads, metadata, account information, location evidence, and relevant witness context.
- Analyze identity, intent, legitimate purpose, course of conduct, authentication, and whether the charged subsection fits the facts.
- Develop a lawful communication protocol for necessary parenting, employment, housing, or property issues while orders remain active.
- Coordinate related criminal and civil proceedings to avoid inconsistent statements or accidental violations.
Detailed Lehigh Valley Guidance
The overview above addresses immediate decisions. The sections below provide additional local and topic-specific detail.
Harassment Defense Attorneys in Easton Pennsylvania, Serving Lehigh & Northampton County
Our Harassment Defense Attorneys Represent Defendants in Allentown, Bethlehem & Easton and throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley
Our Criminal Defense Attorneys have represented numerous individuals charged with Harassment in Easton, Allentown, Bethlehem & the Greater Lehigh Valley. We have successfully had Lehigh & Northampton County Harassment charges dismissed or downgraded.
In Pennsylvania, Harassment may be graded as either a summary offense or a 3rd degree misdemeanor and can carry a sentence of up to one year in jail. Cyber harassment of a child (§ 2709(a.1)) is a third-degree misdemeanor, and a prior PFA-order violation involving the same victim can raise summary harassment to a third-degree misdemeanor. Stalking can be graded as a misdemeanor of the 1st degree or a 3rd degree felony and can carry a sentence of up to 7 years prison.
Many things may constitute harassment but the important part is that the government must prove an intent to harass, annoy or alarm the other person. In many instances of harassment the state must show that a defendant engaged in a course of conduct rather than a single mistake and that their actions had no legitimate purpose.
Likewise stalking can be charged based upon a myriad of acts but the government must again prove that the action(s) were a course of conduct rather than a mere isolated act. When prosecuting a stalking charge the government must also prove the individual had the intent to put another in fear of bodily injury or to cause them substantial emotional distress.
Our Criminal Defense Attorneys in Easton, Pennsylvania are here to help. Call now if you, or a loved one, are facing Harassment charges.
Our Approach to Defending Harassment Charges in the Lehigh Valley
Early Intervention & Aggressive Harassment Defense
Early Retention of a Lehigh Valley Criminal Defense Attorney Can Be an Important Step in Defending Criminal Charges in Easton, Allentown & Bethlehem
When at all possible we want to be involved in a Lehigh or Northampton County Harassment or Stalking case as early as possible. As time passes, memories fade or distort and witnesses may become harder and harder to track down. Security camera footage in Allentown, Bethlehem or Easton may be overwritten and cell phone records may be destroyed. early contact may provide more time to preserve evidence and prepare. When at all possible, we prefer to be involved in a Harassment or Stalking case, prior to the Preliminary Hearing in order to maximize our ability to defend against the Harassment or Stalking charges.
Harassment Law in Easton, Pennsylvania
Below you can find the Pennsylvania Harassment Statute and some precedent favorable to the Defense of Harassment or Stalking Charges
Harassment - 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 2709
Current statutory text checked September 27, 2026 against the official text at palegis.us.
harassment when, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm another,
the person:
(1) strikes, shoves, kicks or otherwise subjects the
other person to physical contact, or attempts or threatens
to do the same;
(2) follows the other person in or about a public place
or places;
(3) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits
acts which serve no legitimate purpose;
(4) communicates to or about such other person any lewd,
lascivious, threatening or obscene words, language, drawings
or caricatures;
(5) communicates repeatedly in an anonymous manner;
(6) communicates repeatedly at extremely inconvenient
hours; or
(7) communicates repeatedly in a manner other than
specified in paragraphs (4), (5) and (6).
(a.1) Cyber harassment of a child.--
(1) A person commits the crime of cyber harassment of
a child if, with intent to harass, annoy or alarm, the person
engages in a continuing course of conduct of making any of
the following by electronic means directly to a child or by
publication through an electronic social media service:
(i) seriously disparaging statement or opinion about
the child's physical characteristics, sexuality, sexual
activity or mental or physical health or condition; or
(ii) threat to inflict harm.
(2) (i) If a juvenile is charged with a violation of
paragraph (1), the judicial authority with jurisdiction
over the violation shall give first consideration to
referring the juvenile charged with the violation to a
diversionary program under Pa.R.J.C.P. No. 312 (relating
to Informal Adjustment) or No. 370 (relating to Consent
Decree). As part of the diversionary program, the
judicial authority may order the juvenile to participate
in an educational program which includes the legal and
nonlegal consequences of cyber harassment.
(ii) If the person successfully completes the
diversionary program, the juvenile's records of the
charge of violating paragraph (1) shall be expunged as
provided for under section 9123 (relating to juvenile
records).
(b) Stalking.--(Deleted by amendment).
(b.1) Venue.--
(1) An offense committed under this section may be
deemed to have been committed at either the place at which
the communication or communications were made or at the place
where the communication or communications were received.
(2) Acts indicating a course of conduct which occur in
more than one jurisdiction may be used by any other
jurisdiction in which an act occurred as evidence of a
continuing pattern of conduct or a course of conduct.
(3) In addition to paragraphs (1) and (2), an offense
under subsection (a.1) may be deemed to have been committed
at the place where the child who is the subject of the
communication resides.
(c) Grading.--
(1) Except as provided under paragraph (3), an offense
under subsection (a)(1), (2) or (3) shall constitute a
summary offense.
(2) An offense under subsection (a)(4), (5), (6) or (7)
or (a.1) shall constitute a misdemeanor of the third degree.
(3) The grading of an offense under subsection (a)(1),
(2) or (3) shall be enhanced one degree if the person has
previously violated an order issued under 23 Pa.C.S. § 6108
(relating to relief) involving the same victim, family or
household member.
(d) False reports.--A person who knowingly gives false
information to any law enforcement officer with the intent to
implicate another under this section commits an offense under
section 4906 (relating to false reports to law enforcement
authorities).
(e) Application of section.--This section shall not apply
to constitutionally protected activity.
(e.1) Course of conduct.--(Deleted by amendment).
(f) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection:
"Communicates." Conveys a message without intent of
legitimate communication or address by oral, nonverbal, written
or electronic means, including telephone, electronic mail,
Internet, facsimile, telex, wireless communication or similar
transmission.
"Course of conduct." A pattern of actions composed of more
than one act over a period of time, however short, evidencing
a continuity of conduct. The term includes lewd, lascivious,
threatening or obscene words, language, drawings, caricatures
or actions, either in person or anonymously. Acts indicating a
course of conduct which occur in more than one jurisdiction may
be used by any other jurisdiction in which an act occurred as
evidence of a continuing pattern of conduct or a course of
conduct.
"Emotional distress." A temporary or permanent state of
mental anguish.
"Family or household member." Spouses or persons who have
been spouses, persons living as spouses or who lived as spouses,
parents and children, other persons related by consanguinity
or affinity, current or former sexual or intimate partners or
persons who share biological parenthood.
"Seriously disparaging statement or opinion." A statement
or opinion which is intended to and under the circumstances is
reasonably likely to cause substantial emotional distress to a
child of the victim's age and which produces some physical
manifestation of the distress.
Current statutory text checked September 27, 2026 against the official text at palegis.us.
when the person either:
(1) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly commits
acts toward another person, including following the person
without proper authority, under circumstances which
demonstrate either an intent to place such other person in
reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause substantial
emotional distress to such other person; or
(2) engages in a course of conduct or repeatedly
communicates to another person under circumstances which
demonstrate or communicate either an intent to place such
other person in reasonable fear of bodily injury or to cause
substantial emotional distress to such other person.
(b) Venue.--
(1) An offense committed under this section may be
deemed to have been committed at either the place at which
the communication or communications were made or at the place
where the communication or communications were received.
(2) Acts indicating a course of conduct which occur in
more than one jurisdiction may be used by any other
jurisdiction in which an act occurred as evidence of a
continuing pattern of conduct or a course of conduct.
(c) Grading.--
(1) Except as otherwise provided for in paragraph (2),
a first offense under this section shall constitute a
misdemeanor of the first degree.
(2) A second or subsequent offense under this section
or a first offense under subsection (a) if the person has
been previously convicted of a crime of violence involving
the same victim, family or household member, including, but
not limited to, a violation of section 2701 (relating to
simple assault), 2702 (relating to aggravated assault), 2705
(relating to recklessly endangering another person), 2718
(relating to strangulation), 2901 (relating to kidnapping),
3121 (relating to rape) or 3123 (relating to involuntary
deviate sexual intercourse), an order issued under section
4954 (relating to protective orders) or an order issued under
23 Pa.C.S. § 6108 (relating to relief) shall constitute a
felony of the third degree.
(d) False reports.--A person who knowingly gives false
information to any law enforcement officer with the intent to
implicate another under this section commits an offense under
section 4906 (relating to false reports to law enforcement
authorities).
(e) Application of section.--This section shall not apply
to constitutionally protected activity.
(f) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following
words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this
subsection:
"Communicates." To convey a message without intent of
legitimate communication or address by oral, nonverbal, written
or electronic means, including telephone, electronic mail,
Internet, facsimile, telex, wireless communication or similar
transmission.
"Course of conduct." A pattern of actions composed of more
than one act over a period of time, however short, evidencing
a continuity of conduct. The term includes lewd, lascivious,
threatening or obscene words, language, drawings, caricatures
or actions, either in person or anonymously. Acts indicating a
course of conduct which occur in more than one jurisdiction may
be used by any other jurisdiction in which an act occurred as evidence of a continuing pattern of conduct or a course of
conduct.
"Emotional distress." A temporary or permanent state of
mental anguish.
"Family or household member." Spouses or persons who have
been spouses, persons living as spouses or who lived as spouses,
parents and children, other persons related by consanguinity
or affinity, current or former sexual or intimate partners or
persons who share biological parenthood.
Relevant Harassment Case Law
Criminal Court Process in Lehigh and Northampton Counties
A brief explanation of criminal-court hearings in Lehigh and Northampton Counties
Filing of Charges
Preliminary Arraignment
Preliminary Hearing
Formal Arraignment
Pre-Trial Motions & Hearings
Criminal Trial
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between harassment and stalking?
They are separate offenses. Harassment includes several forms of conduct and intent; stalking generally requires a course of conduct or repeated acts with the statutorily specified intent or effect. The charged subsection matters.
Can one message or incident support a harassment charge?
Potentially. Some harassment subsections can be based on a single act, while others involve repeated communications or conduct. A blanket statement that repetition is always required would be inaccurate.
Should I delete or block the communications?
Preserve the evidence before changing devices or accounts. Blocking may be sensible for safety, but do not delete the record. If an order governs contact, follow the written order and obtain advice about necessary communications.
Is a PFA the same as a criminal conviction?
No. A PFA is a civil protection-order proceeding, although violating an order can lead to criminal contempt and related conduct may also be charged separately. Different burdens and procedures apply.
What if communication is required for shared custody?
The custody and protection orders control. Counsel may seek a structured method such as a parenting application, limited subject matter, third-party exchange, or court clarification, but parties should not privately rewrite an order.
Important: This page provides general information, not legal advice. Deadlines, procedures, eligibility, and potential outcomes depend on the specific facts and current law. No attorney-client relationship is formed by viewing this page.