A Montgomery County jury on Thursday found a Philadelphia man responsible for staging and fabricating a shooting in a Cheltenham Township park and for previously making similar false allegations in Philadelphia, officials said. The convictions stem from two separate incidents that prosecutors say were intended to incriminate the man’s ex-girlfriend and were motivated in part by a custody dispute.
Verdict, plea and sentence
Harold Leo Cost II, 32, of the 2500 block of North Colorado Street in Philadelphia, was convicted of false reports to incriminate another person, tampering with physical evidence and false alarm to an agency of public safety, according to court records. The incidents occurred between November 2023 and April 2025 in Philadelphia and Cheltenham Township.
After the jury reached its verdict, Cost pleaded guilty to an additional count that charged him as a person not to possess a firearm because of a prior robbery conviction. Under a sentencing agreement, Judge Thomas M. DelRicci ordered Cost to serve 2 to 6 years in prison for all charges. Sheriff’s deputies took Cost into custody immediately to begin serving the sentence.
Jury deliberations and courtroom notes
The jury, composed of six men and six women, deliberated about seven hours before returning the guilty verdicts. The panel acquitted Cost on several conspiracy-related charges. Defense attorney Andrew Joseph Levin argued during the trial that prosecutors did not present sufficient evidence.
“The jury found that Harold Cost set his ex-girlfriend up twice — once in 2023 in Philadelphia and once in Cheltenham in 2025,”
said Assistant District Attorney Blair Rohlfing, who told reporters the conduct had affected the woman’s sense of safety and the way she lives her life.
Prosecutors’ theory and impact
Prosecutors told the court they believed Cost staged the incidents in part to improve his chances of gaining custody of a child he shares with the woman. Rohlfing said the sentence reflects both the “callousness” of the actions and the damage done to an innocent person, and she warned that false reports divert police resources from addressing real crimes.
- Locations involved: Philadelphia (November 2023) and Cheltenham Township (April 2025).
- Charges convicted: False reports to incriminate another, tampering with physical evidence, false alarm to an agency of public safety.
- Additional plea: Person not to possess a firearm (guilty plea entered post-verdict).
| Charge | Outcome |
|---|---|
| False reports to incriminate another | Convicted |
| Tampering with physical evidence | Convicted |
| False alarm to an agency of public safety | Convicted |
| Person not to possess a firearm | Plea — guilty |
Assistant District Attorney Rohlfing emphasized the human consequences, saying the acts “absolutely had an effect on her and the way in which she lives her life, her sense of safety.” Prosecutors also noted the broader public-safety concern: false reports take time and attention away from real criminal investigations.
Cost did not speak in court after the verdict and sentencing agreement. The sentence announced by Judge DelRicci reflects both the convictions returned by the jury and the post-verdict guilty plea on the firearms prohibition charge.
The case underscores challenges prosecutors and victims face when alleged fabrications are used to manipulate custody disputes and target former partners. Local victims’ advocates and law-enforcement officials say false accusations not only harm the wrongly accused but can drain resources and undermine public trust in reporting systems.
Further court filings related to the case were not released at the time of the sentencing. The conviction and sentence were reported by county prosecutors and court officials in Norristown.
