A police officer in Pittsburgh is now unemployed due to troubling accusations of having an improper relationship and giving questionable evidence while under oath in court.
Chief Investigator Rick Earle found out some troubling information.
Court papers that 11 Investigates found show that everything started last May at the Rivers Casino when a couple fought.
The woman went to the Pittsburgh Police Station on the North Side and made a report. She told the cops that her boyfriend slapped her in the face with the back of his hand.
Court papers show that Pittsburgh Police Officer Anthony Dilley filed the report.
The next day, Dilley contacted the woman, but court documents say he didn’t call about the case.
In the request to dismiss the case, the defense argued that Dilley developed an improper personal connection with the person making the allegations. This included several personal visits, physical closeness, and many phone calls.
At the same time, Dilley looked into the woman’s case and ended up charging the lover with simple assault and reckless endangerment.
During a preliminary hearing two months later, Dilley said during cross-examination that he did not know the woman.
Lawyer: Officer, you don’t know the person who is said to be the victim here. “Is that correct?”
Dilley said, “No.”
Defense attorney Paul Ellis says he denied having any link with the person claiming to be a victim in the case.
“I asked him that directly while he was under oath,” Ellis said, who was the defendant’s lawyer in the case.
After hearing about the supposed connection, Ellis requested the District Attorney’s office to drop the charges, but they said no.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office told 11 Investigates that they took on the case based on evidence they thought was strong enough to back the charges. “We did not show the officer’s testimony at the trial.”
Judge Eliot Howsie decided that the suspect was not guilty.
Ellis thinks that the officer’s supposed friendship with the woman caused the officer to be found not guilty.
Ellis said, “I believe his actions hurt the Commonwealth’s case, which makes me wonder why they aren’t pressing harder to charge the officer.”
The cop, who became a Sergeant in August, is now on administrative leave while the Office of Municipal Investigations looks into claims of an inappropriate relationship.
“I believe that an officer who is willing to lie under oath is likely a threat to other officers and the public.” Ellis said that it could be a problem for the city of Pittsburgh and the police force, and it lowers people’s trust.
The city will only say the officer is on paid administrative leave, pending the result of the investigation conducted by the city’s Office of Municipal Investigation.
The Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board is looking into this case.
The police union told 11 Investigates that they do not know about any of the probes right now.
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