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Former Police Captain Gets Probation in Thefts
Judge orders restitution for Halaszynski
By Staff Reports
The Tube City Almanac
August 28, 2025
Posted in: Announcements
A former city police captain accused of stealing from the McKeesport police evidence room has escaped jail time, but will be forced to pay $260,236.27 in restitution.
On Tuesday, Christopher Halaszynski, 54, of Haler Heights pleaded guilty to theft and receiving stolen property.
Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Satler sentenced Halaszynski to eight years probation on each count, to be served consecutively.
Halaszynski, who served as chief of detectives, was in charge of the department’s evidence room. According to prosecutors, beginning in 2020, he began taking money from the evidence room following a divorce, when money became tight.
Prosecutors allege that Halaszynski had intended to replace the money later, but was caught when former McKeesport police Chief Mark Steele, now retired, ordered an audit of the evidence room following the arrest of another former McKeesport police detective, Joe Osinski.
Osinski has pleaded guilty to defrauding the Fraternal Order of Police of more than $1 million and is awaiting sentencing. Investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office, who are investigating that case, have said there is no evidence Osinski’s thefts involved city property.
According to prosecutors, in September 2024, Steele repeately asked Halaszynski to meet with him and begin the audit. Instead, the complaint states, Halaszynski called off sick.
On Sept. 9, 2024, prosecutors said, Halaszynski was found unconscious in a police vehicle in what investigators described as a suicide attempt for which he was hospitalized for several weeks.
Halaszynski served with the McKeesport police for 28 years, rising from patrol officer to captain.
The investigation into Halaszynski was led by detectives from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors said Halaszynski has cooperated and shown remorse.
Satler described Halaszynski’s actions “a tremendous violation of trust” but said that his lack of a criminal record and the need to earn money to pay restitution justified probation rather than incarceration.
Prosecutors said that money was missing from evidence seized in connection with 159 cases. City officials have said that procedures for handling and storing evidence have been overhauled in the wake of Halaszynski’s arrest.
Originally published August 28, 2025.
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