Mark William Gross, who styled himself as "the Gingerbread Man" as he used the Lansdale Patch page on Facebook to taunt police that they couldn't catch him, waived his preliminary hearing on Thursday at District Court 38-1-28 in Lansdale.
Wearing dark blue fatigues from the Montgomery County Correctional Facility, the bearded Gross, 21, sat in a secured conference room near the court clerks' counter as his defense attorney reached an agreement with prosecutors to reduce his effective bail by 90 percent.
Gross is charged with a number of offenses related to the alleged distribution and possession of cocaine and various prescription drugs in the North Penn area, as well as with felony flight to avoid apprehension.
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The modified bail agreement will allow Gross to get out of the county jail for $3,500, pending his formal arraignment in the county's Court of Common Pleas in April. Should he fail to appear, he would be liable for the full bail amount of $35,000, which comprises two sets of charges filed in October 2012 and February 2013.
Police said Gross is on a probation violation detainer and would be ineligible for release from the county jail in any event. A source said the bail reduction would make him eligible for a wider variation of work details while he remains incarcerated at the jail.
