Nazareth Area wrestling legend Sammy Sasso
faces criminal charges after local police say he was stopped for driving an unregistered vehicle.
Sasso went on to wrestle for Ohio State University, and he was
shot and severely wounded in a confrontation over a carjacking
near the campus in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 18, 2023.
He was
recently hired as part of Lehigh University’s wrestling coaching staff
in Bethlehem.
Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta in a news release Thursday said Sasso, 25, was arrested following a traffic stop Wednesday in Nazareth that led to the seizure of multiple firearms. Sasso did not have a license to carry the firearms, borough police allege.
Police said they pulled over the black Lexus IS 250 due to an Ohio registration that expired in April.
The traffic stop occurred about 7 p.m. at Bath-Nazareth Highway (Route 248) and Georgetown Road, according to court records.
One handgun, a loaded Beretta .40-caliber semiautomatic, was in the panel of the driver’s side door, and additional firearms were found in an Ohio State University bag inside the car, according to police.
Borough police also said they found THC vape cartridges in the vehicle and that Sasso told police he did not have a Pennsylvania medical marijuana card.
Police indicate in court records Sasso cooperated during the stop and initially consented to a vehicle search, before denying consent to search the OSU bag. He admitted it contained additional firearms, and police seized the vehicle and obtained a search warrant, court records say. The bag was then found to contain three handguns: an FN 9mm, Walther .380-caliber and Glock 27 .40-caliber, according to the court records.
Sasso, of Upper Nazareth Township, is charged with a felony, firearms not to be carried without a license, in addition to misdemeanor drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, plus a summary charge of driving an unregistered vehicle.
He was arraigned early Thursday morning before District Judge Sandra McClure and sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $35,000 bail, according to court records. His mother, Lorraine Sasso, then posted the bail, the records say.
Sammy Sasso did not immediately have an attorney, according to the office of District Judge John Capobianco that is handling the case.
Sasso has a preliminary hearing tentatively scheduled for July 30, where a district judge will be asked to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas.
Efforts to reach Sasso for comment were not immediately successful.
Baratta declined to comment beyond sharing the allegations and criminal charges against Sasso.
“I get that he’s a semi-celebrity, but at this point it’s too early to weigh in on anything,” the district attorney told lehighvalleylive.com.
Messages seeking comment sent to Lehigh University were not immediately returned.
Sasso amassed a 106-19 career record for Ohio State, including a 52-7 mark in dual meet competition. He was a four-time Big Ten finalist at 149 pounds, winning titles in 2021 and 2023. In four trips to the NCAA tournament, Sasso was seeded no worse than fourth at 149. He was seeded third in 2020, earning first-team NWCA All-America honors after the championship’s cancellation. Sasso was the NCAA runner-up at 149 in both 2021 and 2023 and finished fifth at the NCAA championships in 2022.
After Sasso was shot in the summer 2023 carjacking incident, he missed a season in recovery.
Sasso underwent surgeries and faced intensive, inpatient rehabilitation aimed at helping him learn to walk again, according to a
GoFundMe set up by his family in support of his recovery
.
The
teenager charged with shooting Sasso was sentenced in April
to 10 to 14 1/2 years in prison, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Sasso spoke at the sentencing how he’d been training with Olympic athletes the week before the incident.
Sasso returned to action for his final year of eligibility at Ohio State in 2024-25. He went 12-7 competing at 157 and 165 for Ohio State and, while successfully overcoming his injuries to return to the mat, was unable to crack the Buckeyes’ postseason lineup.
Prior to his time at Ohio State, Sasso was a two-time PIAA Class 3A champion who finished in the top three at the state tournament in all four years — second (to Spencer Lee), third and two firsts — for Nazareth. Sasso went 180-11 in his high school career, including 135-3 in his final three seasons. He won championships at the prestigious Ironman, Super 32, Beast of the East and Flo Nationals tournaments.
In freestyle, Sasso won a junior national title in Fargo, North Dakota, and while at Ohio State, won a UWW Junior National championship in 2019.
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