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Criminal Defense Attorney serving Southwestern Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Call 412-532-6805 to schedule a consultation.
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Pittsburgh Man Held in Fatal Hit and Run

A Pennsylvania man is facing several charges, including driving under the influence, homicide by vehicle, accident involving death or injury while not licensed, and driving with an invalid license, after a hit-and-run accident early this week left a pedestrian dead.

The accused, a 25 year old man of Beechview, is alleged to have hit and killed a pedestrian in Brookline early Sunday morning, and then left the scene of the accident.  According to police, the man was driving a blue Ford Explorer in the 2300 block of Pioneer Avenue at about 2:20 a.m. when he struck the victim, who is also 25 years old. The victim was transported to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where he was pronounced dead just before 3:00 a.m.

Police used crime scene evidence to help identify the make and model of the vehicle involved in the accident. After putting out an alert for a blue Ford SUV or pickup with a broken bug shield, police were able to locate the vehicle parked at a home on the 900 block of Tropical Ave. Police were then able to locate the driver of the car and its three passengers inside the home where the car was found. After conducting interviews, law enforcement arrested the alleged driver of the vehicle and took him to Allegheny County jail for processing.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Pittsburgh’s Child Predator Unit Makes Two Arrests For Child Porn In One Week

Two Pittsburgh area men were arrested last week on charges relating to the possession of child pornography. The cases, however, are unrelated to one another except that the came as a result of the same investigation. The men allegedly are not acquainted. The attorney general’s office reported that one of the suspects, a 36 year old man from New Kensington, admitted that he was recording a teenage girl in her bedroom by using a webcam device. The other suspect is a 41-year-old from man South Park. Both of them are being held until their respective preliminary hearings, which will both take place next week.

The Child Predator Unit of the attorney general’s office began investigating the 36-year-old man last month when a larger investigation of consumers of child porn was already underway. Agents were investigating users who were accessing a specific internet file-sharing network exclusively for such material. The agents traced his IP address to a home on North Bluff Drive where the man lives with his wife and a 17-year-old female.  There they found over 100 child porn videos that had been downloaded to his hard drive, some of which featuring children as young as 2.

The 41-year-old was arrested as part of the same larger investigation but the specific nature and quantity of the content found on his computer was not revealed.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Pittsburgh Police Arrest Man For Running Naked Across Rachel Carson Bridge

An as-yet unidentified man was arrested this week when witnesses saw him running naked across a downtown Pittsburgh bridge. Pittsburgh Police were called to the scene after reports began coming into dispatchers about a man who had begun taking off his clothes on the Rachel Carson bridge and then tossing them over the side into the Allegheny River. The man began running when police arrived at the bridge, which forced a foot pursuit. According to the report, once the man was apprehended he resisted arrest and had to be tased in order to be subdued and taken into custody.

The man’s identity was not revealed. It is unknown whether police do not know his identity or if it is just being withheld. The man’s motive for stripping naked is also unknown. Video of the incident was taken by a witness and posted on the internet. It has since gone viral and the witness herself, a certified etiquette trainer, claims that she saw police providing the man with a trash bag in order to cover himself. He apparently put the trash bag on briefly, but according to the witness he didn’t leave it on for long. After it was given to him, she saw that he was naked again as police were trying to put him in handcuffs.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Westmoreland County Man Arraigned for Killing Mom’s Boyfriend

A Westmoreland County man, who has been accused of killing his mother’s boyfriend, was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Joseph Dalfonso on Thursday.

According to police, the 40 year old suspect shot his mother’s boyfriend – age 54- three times outside a house on Donner Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Police say that an argument about drugs and entering rehab escalated and led to the shooting, though the exact details of the alleged argument are not clear.

After the shooting, the mother of the accused came downstairs to find her boyfriend badly wounded in the chest and head.  The victim was transported to the Monongahela Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:28 a.m.

Officers report that when they arrived on the scene the mother of the accused indicated that her son had shot her boyfriend. After obtaining a search warrant, police searched the home and found a .22 caliber pistol, which is believed to have been the murder weapon.

The accused shooter is being held without bond at the Westmoreland County Prison in Hempfield Township. He is set to appear at a preliminary hearing before Judge Dalfonso on February 21st.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Covert Drug Task Force Securing Indictments in West Virginia

At least fifteen federal drug indictments have been secured since the beginning of the year thanks to an unassuming but very effective task force in rural West Virginia. U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld introduced the task force in late January after it had already been working for several weeks to shut down known drug activity in Pocahontas, Randolph, and Tucker counties. Ihlenfeld stated that more arrests are expected over the next several days and weeks, and that there are a number of individuals who have already been named in drug indictments from last week that are as yet sealed.

According to Ihlenfeld, a “memorandum of understanding” was executed in late 2013 regarding the task force, but the board decided to wait until the task force had begun making indictments before it informed the public about its existence and activities. The reason for the delay is that several individuals and groups were already under investigation, and task force officials didn’t want to jeopardize those cases by going public too early.

One of the most important cases involved a 67-count indictment in which three individuals were charged with conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, and details how those individuals allegedly shopped for the ingredients to concoct their drugs. Six more individuals have also been identified in separate cases and charged with distribution of hydrocodone, cocaine, crack, and oxycodone, among other drugs. Ihlenfeld has declared that the task force is just getting started in its efforts to rid counties in rural West Virginia of dangerous and illegal street drugs.

The task force includes members of several law enforcement agencies including county sheriffs and prosecutors in the three aforementioned counties, the West Virginia State Police, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Members of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are also assisting in the task force efforts on a case-by-case basis.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Leniency Sought For Former City Of Pittsburgh Employee Charged With Bid Rigging

Lawyers for a former City of Pittsburgh employee who is accused of rigging bids for city contracts have stated that they believe the accused will receive probation. The bid-rigging that was conducted by the employee was found as part of an investigation by federal authorities into the city’s operations. The defendant’s lawyers claim that the city of Pittsburgh was not “materially” harmed by the bid-rigging efforts because in the end, the city selected the lowest bidder which it always does in these situations. And the work for which it was contracted was performed according to that contract.

The defendant pleaded guilty in December of 2012 to helping to defraud the United States government out of grant money by making the claim that one of the contracting companies was a female-owned business, when it in fact was not. The claim led to a contract for the business, which saw the city pay out $327,000 for the installation of laptops into Pittsburgh police cars. The defendant herself was paid $6,000 for her efforts in helping to win the contract, by rigging the bid with the false claim about the owners of the company.

The owner of the company has pled guilty to charges of conspiracy, bribery, and mail fraud, and was sentenced last month to three years of probation. Other investigations stemming from the initial federal probe into the rigged bidding led to the discovery of indiscretions within police bureau operations, as well as the resignation of the former Pittsburgh Chief of Police.

The defendant also was charged with tapping into secret police accounts for personal use, and failure to file income tax returns, charges to which she has pled guilty.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Pittsburgh City Officer Arrested On DUI Charges

Court documents have shown that an officer with the Pittsburgh police department was arrested early Monday morning after being involved in a crash in the West End, following the Super Bowl telecast Sunday evening. The crash occurred while the officer was off-duty, and resulted in the four-year veteran from Westwood being charged with two counts of drunken driving and one count of careless driving.

According to the off-duty officer, he was driving his Ford pickup truck on South Main Street in the West End when he lost control of the vehicle. His fellow officers said in their report that the truck crashed into an oncoming vehicle. The driver of the other vehicle suffered a concussion but no other injuries were reported. The incident occurred just after 3am Monday morning. The officer was given two subsequent breathalyzer tests, upon which he registered blood-alcohol levels of 0.195 and 0.199 respectively.

The officer has no record of previous DUI or DWI arrests. Regina McDonald, Pittsburgh Police Acting Chief, said in a recent statement that the officer has since been assigned to the department’s warrant office doing various administrative duties while the investigation is being conducted. It is unknown at this time whether or not the driver of the other vehicle will press charges or bring litigation against the officer. As of yet there have been no witnesses questioned and no one has come forward claiming to have been a witness to the incident. The Pittsburgh Office of Municipal Investigations is conducting the investigation.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Pittsburgh Drug Ring Sold Meth as Ecstasy

Pittsburgh authorities allege that drug dealers are going to new and even more dangerous lengths in order to peddle their wares to unsuspecting users. A drug ring in the Pittsburgh area was allegedly selling extremely dangerous methamphetamines to local drug users by claiming it was the club/rave drug known as Ecstasy. Federal officials said last Friday that suburban locations such as the Mall at Robinson, selected for their inconspicuous nature, were used by members of the ring as meet-up locations for their buyers.

A 29-year-old North Fayette man was alleged to be the leader of the drug ring, and is accused of trying to generate an entirely new market in the drug trade by selling meth and claiming it was Ecstasy. According to Michael Christmas, FBI supervisory special agent, the drug ring was being investigated as the result of a 14-person indictment.

Ecstasy is commonly sold to college-age individuals for club and rave parties, and has an entirely different effect on the body and mind than methamphetamines do. The people who took the drug under the auspices that it was Ecstasy told police that they wondered why they remained wide awake for days, a characteristic that is one of the effects of meth. The drug that was being sold was tested as being 90% meth with the remaining 10% being Ecstasy. According to investigators, the indictment began in early 2013, and led to revelations that a group of people headquartered near the Pittsburgh airport was having meth shipped in from Cleveland, as well as heroin and marijuana shipped in from New York City.

The ring leader is likely to be charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute methamphetamines and heroin, as well as possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Pittsburgh Elementary School Teacher Charged With Rape

A music teacher at Avonworth Elementary School was arrested on Friday after being charged with sexual assault on one of his relatives beginning in 2002 when she was 10 years old. The teacher was placed on administrative leave by school officials. The Ben Avon resident is a former high school and middle school band teacher, and has been banned from school property. He is currently being held in the Allegheny County Jail on $200,000 bond. The sexual assault was first brought to light in 2009 when the accuser was 17 years old. She confided in officials at a local faith-based organization when she became concerned that her attacker may have gotten her pregnant.

An investigation was launched by police when the organization’s officials reported the abuse, but the girl recanted her statement regarding the attacks – and as a result there were no charges filed. She said that the abuse took place “on and off” for a number of years starting when she was 10 but police were not able to find any evidence to back up her story or the details thereof.

Despite her recantation, the girl insisted in a more recent interview with police that her initial statement was a truthful one and that her attacker had written her a letter expressing romantic feelings for her which she says he personally delivered to her during the fall of 2013. The accused has been charged with rape, sexual assault, and other crimes related crimes, and will appear in court for a preliminary hearing on February 13th of this year. The school superintendent stated in a letter addressed to parents of children within the school district that the district is cooperating with police and the district attorney’s office, but that no further comment could be made for the sake of the integrity of the ongoing investigation.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.

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Western Pennsylvania Sex Traffickers Arrested in Philadelphia

As a follow-up to last week’s story where it was reported that a former prison guard and her accomplice turned a 16-year-old girl into a prostitute, it has been confirmed that two Pittsburgh area residents, a 33-year-old female and a 32-year-old male, the latter having been a former inmate at the prison where the female worked as a guard, are being federally charged with sex trafficking of a child and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. The victim, who was 16 at the time of the alleged incidents, is from Western Pennsylvania and had fled from a juvenile placement program when the defendants found her and began their alleged crimes.

The defendants were respectively a guard and an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Greensburg, where they met. The inmate was serving a sentence for drug-related offenses and the two began living together upon his release from prison. The victim met them during the summer of 2012 and was invited to move in with them, which she did. Soon after moving in the victim was allegedly told by the defendants that she would need to become a prostitute so that they could have money.

The victim claimed to federal agents that the male defendant physically assaulted her and made threats on her life by indicating that he owned several guns. He also is alleged to have held her hostage inside the apartment, telling her that she couldn’t leave because she was on the run from authorities and would be sent back to the juvenile program if she left.

The defendants are in the process of being transported back to Pittsburgh after having been located and arrested in Philadelphia. They have not yet been appointed legal representation.

Attorney Frank Walker of Frank Walker Law is a National Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyer and Personal Injury Attorney with offices in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Morgantown West Virginia.

If you or someone you love are facing criminal charges or seriously injured in an accident, contact Attorney Frank Walker immediately at 412-315-7441, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for aggressive and experienced Criminal Defense or Representation in a Civil Case.