March 13, 2022 |
By Vickie Babyak | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A rally will be held at 9 a.m. Monday in front of the Allegheny County Courthouse to support the family of 18-year-old Dontae McKenith.
Family members and Take Action Mon Valley are trying to draw attention to McKenith’s death on July 24, 2021, after police said he was shot by 16-year-old Phillip Payne on Soles Street in the city.
Payne was charged with criminal homicide and a firearm offense. But family members said they’ve heard that Payne may be allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a lighter sentence — possibly as little as three years in prison.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office has not confirmed whether Payne has been offered a plea bargain. A hearing in the case is scheduled Monday.
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March 08, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A White Oak man was killed and two other people were injured in a crash Wednesday on state Route 148 in East McKeesport.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said that John D. Semenko, 59, died at a hospital about an hour after the wreck.
An Allegheny County police spokesperson said Semenko was the driver of a Ford SUV that collided with a Dodge mini-van just before 11 p.m. Wednesday near the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Congress Street.
The Dodge’s driver, a 24-year-old man, and a passenger in the minivan, a 22-year-old woman, were taken to area hospitals in stable condition, police said. Their names were not released.
Allegheny County police homicide and collision detectives are investigating.
March 01, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
Two men were in critical condition following a shooting on Monday night on Sixth Avenue in the city.
McKeesport police and paramedics were dispatched to the Hi-View Gardens apartment complex just before 12 midnight when callers to Allegheny County 9-1-1 reported a shooting.
Crews found two men — one 21-years-old, the other 22-years-old — suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, Allegheny County police said.
Both men were taken to area hospitals in critical condition. One man was detained at the scene for further questioning and county homicide detectives are investigating, police said.
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February 10, 2022 |
By Jason Togyer | Posted in: Crime and Police News, McKeesport and Region News
Pittsburgh police Chief Scott Schubert, McKeesport police Chief Adam Alfer and Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speak before an event Thursday at the Palisades. (Photo special to Tube City Almanac)
An intensive, six-month focus on stopping gun and drug trafficking in the McKeesport area has so far led to 71 arrests and the seizures of 46 guns used in crimes, state and local officials announced Thursday.
The partnership between state investigators, the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office, McKeesport police and other law-enforcement agencies also shows the value of cooperation, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said during a press conference at the Palisades ballroom, Downtown.
“This is hardly the end of the conversation,” Shapiro said. “It is a confirmation that law-enforcement collaboration works, and it is also a call for further action. We need to learn from this model, we need to use it here and in other communities across the commonwealth.”
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February 01, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
• Arrest records published here were provided by the McKeesport Police Department.
• Not all arrest records are published.
• An arrest does not mean the person identified has been convicted of a crime.
• All people arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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February 01, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A man from Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond on charges that he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl repeatedly over a period of several weeks in 2020.
Robert A. Clark, 41, was arrested by McKeesport police on Dec. 28 and faces a preliminary hearing Feb. 7 before Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi.
Court officials said bond was denied because Clark has failed to appear for past court dates on 14 separate occasions.
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January 28, 2022 |
By Emily Scott © Public News Service | Posted in: Crime and Police News
(Graphic: ACLU of Pennsylvania)
Keeping track of student arrests and law enforcement referrals is a key tool for transparency and accountability within schools, but a new report found some Pennsylvania schools have regularly underreported data on student arrests.
Analysis by the ACLU of Pennsylvania showed Allegheny County public schools underreported student arrests by 83 percent in the 2017-2018 school year — including Pittsburgh Public Schools, which reported no arrests.
Ghadah Makoshi, community advocate for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said misrepresentation erodes trust in the education system.
The same report also called Allegheny County a hot-spot for students being arrested by police, with local youth being far more likely to be referred to police than students in either Philadelphia or Pennsylvania as a whole.
In addition, the infractions for which students were arrested in Allegheny County are often relatively minor. The report found that Black male students and students with disabilities were at greatest risk for arrest or referral to law enforcement.
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January 25, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A 33-year-old woman provided $18,000 to scam artists pretending to be an Allegheny County sheriff’s deputy and an FBI agent.
Officials are warning residents that government agencies will never ask for gift cards to pay off a fine or post bond.
The suspects, who have not yet been identified, spoofed the sheriff’s office number on caller ID to make the scam seem more convincing, said Tony Griffith, spokesman for Allegheny County Sheriff Kevin Kraus.
Investigators said the victim was convinced that she had to pay off fines and fees by purchasing gift cards from Giant Eagle, Rite Aid and other merchants, and then reading the numbers over the phone to the phony law-enforcement officers.
“The sheriff’s office cannot stress enough that this is not how we conduct business involving warrants,” Griffith said. “We never ask for payment in the form of gift cards for anything involving the judicial system or any other aspect of our office.”
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January 21, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News
A Wilkinsburg man is free on bond after being charged by Allegheny County police with aggravated assault in connection with a shooting on Sunday night in Versailles Borough.
Dondre A. Grisom, 27, was released Thursday on $20,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing Jan. 31 before Magisterial District Judge Thomas Miller Jr.
Allegheny County police allege that Grisom shot an unnamed juvenile just before 9 p.m. during an incident in the 900 block of Center Street. The youth was taken to the hospital by private vehicle, police said. His condition was not released.
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January 19, 2022 |
By Staff Reports | Posted in: Crime and Police News, White Oak News
A White Oak man died Tuesday night after being hit by a car on Route 48, police said, and the driver of the car that struck him did not stop.
Craig Peden, 81, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Allegheny County police said Peden was walking along Jacks Run Road just north of the entrance to White Oak Park when the collision occurred just before 7:30 p.m.
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