for BigTrial.net
On June 16, 2020, Talia Santania, a self-proclaimed "stripper, model & e-slut," went on her Twitter account and publicly accused her ex-boyfriend, Assistant District Attorney Joseph Torda, of assault, breaking and entering, and burglary.
"Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Jospeh Torda just assaulted me in my own apartment building and stole my external hard drive," she tweeted at 1:07 p.m. on June 16, 2020.
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On July 22, 2020, Satania publicly aired a new grievance against her former boyfriend.
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"All three complainants were very appreciative with the work ADA Torda put into the cases and all were pleased with the results," the D.A.'s press release stated. "One of the complainants, who is disabled, noted that she was so frightened after the burglary that she needed to move into a different house, and intends to deliver an impact statement at the sentencing hearing before the Hon. Glynnis Hill."
Police charged Bazelon with child endangerment. She was placed in custody and police transported Bazelon and her two children to the Special Victims Unit, where the four-year-old was reported in good condition.
“After a thorough investigation into the fatal shooting of Vernon Harris on October 20, 2020, the Office of Attorney General has determined Devonte’ Douglass acted in self defense when he fired his weapon and will not be charged with homicide," a spokesperson for the AG's office said.
"Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Jospeh Torda just assaulted me in my own apartment building and stole my external hard drive," she tweeted at 1:07 p.m. on June 16, 2020.
In her tweet, Santania tagged Torda's boss, District Attorney Larry Krasner. But she never heard back from the progressive D.A.
A day after the alleged burglary happened, June 17, 2020, Satania tweeted, "I'm still pretty fucked up over what happened to me yesterday and I'm worried about would come next. I've never been attacked like that before, and for it to happen in my own home by someone I know is painful."
"If bystanders on the street hadn't seen him acting suspiciously outside my door in all black, force entry into my building once I opened the door and heard my screaming, I don't know what would have happened."
What was ADA Torda accused of stealing? Santania sells porn videos online. The external hard drive that she claimed was stolen, according to sources, contained porn films that Torda allegedly shot with Satania.
"Um so my ex, the Philly ADA who attempted to rob me, is now doxxing me on Twitter," she wrote.
The stripper and the prosecutor had an off-again on-again romantic relationship that ran from October 2019 until January of 2020, when they split up.
During that relationship, sources say, the couple did marijuana and cocaine together, in addition to making porn films.
They got back together again but Santania broke up with Torda, and then the alleged burglary happened.
Santania, 26, however, declined to be interviewed. Instead, Freddy Godoy, her lawyer released a statement that said: "She has had time to reflect, and recover from her emotional and physical injuries. She wants to put this all behind her, and wishes Mr. Torda success."
Both Torda and his lawyer, Walter McHugh, did not respond to phone calls or requests for comment. Neither did District Attorney Larry Krasner, nor his official spokesperson, Jane Roh.
Last year, the district attorney's office referred the alleged burglary involving ADA Torda to the state attorney general's office for investigation, because of a conflict of interest.
The D.A.'s office also referred a second case to the AG's office, where ADA Torda was charging Santania with alleged harassment.
Ultimately, the AG's office decided not to charge either Torda or Santania.
Today, a spokesman for the AG's office confirmed that back on Nov. 4, 2020, the AG declined to file criminal charges in the case of the alleged burglary; the AG's spokesperson confirmed that the AG's office also declined to prosecute Santania.
Torda's still employed at the D.A.'s office where he's worked since 2018, and presently earns a salary of $71,456.
On May 17, 2019, Torda, then a member of the D.A.'s juries unit, was commended online by the district attorney's office on medium.com's "Justice Wire" for obtaining a guilty verdict in a case involving a trio of home burglaries in the Grays Ferry section of the city where credit cards and three TV sets were stolen.
Torda, who is presently assigned to the D.A.'s insurance fraud unit, sources say, was never disciplined for the incident involving Satania.
Sadly, the investigation by the state attorney general's office into allegations that ADA Torda broke the law is not an isolated incident in Larry Krasner's D.A.'s office.
Indeed, over a four-month period from November 2020 to February of this year, the state attorney general's office acted as a clearing house for Krasner, by deciding not to bring criminal charges against a trio of Krasner's employees.
A month after the state attorney general's office cleared ADA Torda, on Dec. 28, 2020, the state attorney general's office cleared Dana Lynn Bazelon, 40, of Center City, of child endangerment. On her Facebook page Bazelon stated that she was a "proud Philadelphian" and "criminal justice reformer" who serves as a "policy advisor" to D.A. Larry Krasner.
On May 11, 2020, police arrested Bazelon after she allegedly left her four-year-old daughter unattended in a parked car. Cops were on routine patrol on the 200 block of Rittenhouse Street in the Mount Airy section of the city at 3:21 p.m. when they were flagged down by a man who told them a child had been left alone in the back seat of a gray Ford Fusion.
The police made eye contact with the child, unlocked the car door through an open window and took the child into custody. The victim's mother, identified as ADA Bazelon, returned 34 minutes later with her six-year-old son.
The mother told police that she went for a walk with her son and didn't want to wake her daughter because she hadn't been sleeping well.
But after the AG investigated the case, Bazelon got a pass.
"Following her arrest, Dana Bazelon successfully completed ARD conditions requested by the Commonwealth, including participating in parenting counseling and remaining arrest-free for six months," a spokesman for the attorney general's office said. "As a result, the Commonwealth withdrew the charges against her today."
"Following her arrest, Dana Bazelon successfully completed ARD conditions requested by the Commonwealth, including participating in parenting counseling and remaining arrest-free for six months," a spokesman for the attorney general's office said. "As a result, the Commonwealth withdrew the charges against her today."
The state attorney general's next investigation of a staffer in the Philadelphia district attorney's office involved an allegation of murder.
On Feb. 25, 2021, the state attorney general's office decided that DeVonte' Douglass, the D.A.'s gun violence coordinator, acted in self defense on Oct. 20, 2020 when he shot and killed Vernon Harris, a male prostitute.
Douglass met Harris on Instagram, and the two agreed to meet the morning of Oct. 20,2020 near the Mount Peace cemetery to have "a sexual encounter in exchange for money," police said, namely $500.
After Douglass's encounter with Harris, which took place in the back seat of a car, Douglass told police, Harris stood outside the vehicle and pointed a gun at Douglass, and demanded all his money.
Harris then placed his gun inside his waistband. But when Harris started reaching around the vehicle, Douglass told police that he feared that Harris was going to take out his gun and shoot him. So Douglass drew his gun and shot Harris twice in the chest, killing him. Then he ran across Lehigh Avenue, pleading for someone to call police.
Police recovered a 9 mm gun registered to Douglass. As a member of the District Attorney's Immediate Response Team, DeVonte' Douglass routinely visited crime scenes, hospitals, and the medical examiner's office when there was a homicide, to offer help to victims' families.
Douglass, wearing his DA's ID badge around his neck, was transported to the homicide unit. Police confiscated a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum that was still in Harris's waistband.
The case was turned over to the attorney general's office for investigation because the D.A.'s office had an obvious conflict of interest. And, after an investigation was conducted, for the third time in four months, the state attorney general's office gave an employee of Larry Krasner's D.A.'s office a pass on that murder rap.
However, the spokesperson said, "Mr. Douglass was arrested and charged for other crimes surrounding Mr. Harris’ death, including soliciting for prostitution and misleading investigators about the facts surrounding the fatal shooting.” Douglass was also charged with possession of an instrument of crime.
When he first took office in January of 2018 and he fired 31 veteran prosecutors, new D.A. Larry Krasner famously proclaimed, "The coach gets to pick the team." Then Krasner went out and subsequently recruited his own team, which, as it turned out, included a few bad apples.
Carlos Vega, a career prosecutor running for the Democratic nomination for D.A. against Krasner in the May 18th primary, said the actions of Krasner's employees such as ADA Torda demonstrates that there is a "complete lack of accountability" in the D.A.'s office.