Traffic Stop Turned Bad For Pennsylvania Trooper
Michael A. Fuoco and Cindi Lash
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
There were snow flurries and it was a bone-chilling 26 degrees when Cpl. Joseph Pokorny reported for work on the midnight shift Monday at the Pennsylvania State Police station in Moon.
As a patrol unit supervisor, Cpl. Pokorny, 45, of Moon, had the option of riding alone or with a partner. On this night, he rode alone.
Two hours later, he was dead. Court papers filed yesterday suggest the 22-year state police veteran was shot to death, possibly with his own gun, after a violent fight with a speeding driver who crashed a borrowed car outside a Carnegie hotel.
The man identified by police as Cpl. Pokorny's killer, re-cent prison parolee Leslie Mollett, 30, was arraigned on homicide and other charges early yesterday. Mr. Mollett, who was arrested Wednesday night, was jailed until a hearing next Friday.
New details about the circumstances of Cpl. Pokorny's slaying emerged in the police affidavit supporting Mr. Mollett's arrest. Cpl. Pokorny will be laid to rest this morning.
The affidavit noted that Cpl. Pokorny's responsibilities on his shift included patrolling various highways in Allegheny County, including the Parkway.
As light snow fell, Cpl. Pokorny spotted a black 2001 Mercury Sable traveling west at up to 90 mph, investigators said. At 1:56 a.m., authorities said, Cpl. Pokorny notified dispatchers that he was in pursuit of a vehicle and provided the license number. Asked for his location, he said he was at the Extended StayAmerica hotel at 520 North Bell Ave. in Carnegie.
Other state police units headed to the area to provide backup. They never made it in time. At 2:05 a.m., state police dispatch was notified via Allegheny County 911 that Carnegie police Sgt. Mark Lint, who had been on routine patrol, had discovered a wounded trooper in the parking lot and had requested emergency assistance.
A paramedic from the Carnegie Emergency Medical Service pronounced the trooper dead at 2:26 a.m. The Allegheny County Coroner's office said Cpl. Pokorny died of a gunshot wound to the chest. There also was a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
His killing was a mystery but there were clues at the scene. Cpl. Pokorny's body was found near a curb surrounding a landscaped area separating the parking lot from the street. Fresh tire impressions in the snow showed that a vehicle had traveled over the curb area and had come to rest in the landscaping, displacing shrubbery.
In the shrubs, investigators found a fully loaded Glock .40-caliber handgun. Near Cpl. Pokorny's body were his handcuffs, pepper spray and collapsible baton, indicating a violent struggle had occurred. Near his body was a dark, hooded jacket with fur around the hood.
Missing was his department-issued Beretta handgun. But casings consistent with state police ammunition were found, indicating that Cpl. Pokorny may have been killed with his own weapon.
At 7:30 a.m., an informant told authorities that someone had told him or her that Mr. Mollett, a convicted drug dealer who was paroled Nov. 17 from the State Correctional Institution Fayette, was the driver of the Mercury Sable and had been in possession of the Glock handgun.
The informant also said Mr. Mollett was currently at 2825 Sarah St., South Side, the home of his girlfriend, Charise Cheatom, 23. Later, investigators learned Ms. Cheatom owned the Mercury Sable.
Dozens of city, county and state police and Allegheny County sheriff's deputies converged on the South Side. After hours of delays, Mr. Mollett and Ms. Cheatom came out of the home and were jailed -- him on a parole violation and her charged with hindering apprehension and making false reports to police.
Ms. Cheatom's bond, which had been set at $100,000, was reduced yesterday to a $5,000 percentage bond in a hearing by Allegheny County Judge David Cashman.
The judge also ordered Ms. Cheatom put on electronic monitoring before her trial.
In the court affidavit, detectives said Mr. Mollett admitted to being the operator of the black Mercury Sable, which was carrying two passengers. He said he was driving at between 80 and 90 mph and saw Cpl. Pokorny's car with emergency lights behind him but didn't stop and took the Rosslyn Farms exit toward the hotel.
There, he told authorities, he crashed the car onto the curb at the hotel entrance. He also admitted to having the Glock handgun in the car.
After the crash, he said, he and his passengers got out of the car and were confronted by Cpl. Pokorny. Mr. Mollett said he and Cpl. Pokorny began to struggle and his jacket came off during the altercation. He said he fled in the Sable, leaving his passengers behind. The affidavit didn't explain how he said he was able to get away from Cpl. Pokorny.
Through the investigation, detectives were able to identify the passengers, but did not reveal them in the affidavit. They learned that the group had been at a Downtown nightclub, before the encounter with Cpl. Pokorny.
Ending contradicted
On Tuesday, the passengers each gave statements that confirmed the beginning of Mr. Mollett's version but contradicted the crucial ending.
One of them said that after they got out of the car Cpl. Pokorny ordered them to show their hands and ordered Mr. Mollett to stand near the car's trunk, where he began to pat him down. Mr. Mollett began to resist and fight with the trooper, and the passengers ran away. Multiple gunshots were then fired.
The other passenger said that, after crashing, Mr. Mollett attempted to shove a handgun under the front seat of the car. That passenger told detectives Mr. Mollett became verbally combative with Cpl. Pokorny and refused to comply when ordered to put his hands on the car.
Mr. Mollett then became physically combative, the passenger said, and the trooper pulled out his pepper spray, but Mr. Mollett's fighting caused it to spray erratically. That's when the passengers fled and there were multiple gunshots in rapid succession, the second passenger told investigators.
Within minutes, the passenger said, he received a phone call from Mr. Mollett on his cell phone telling him the trooper "got three to the head." In a second call, Mr. Mollett asked that the passenger return to the scene to get the handgun, a request that was refused.
Based on that information, Mr. Mollett, who remained in jail on the parole violation, was charged late Wednesday with criminal homicide, theft by taking, resisting arrest, attempting to elude police and firearms violations.
Prosecutors now are reviewing the possibility of seeking the death penalty against Mr. Mollett, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. Authorities would not comment on whether anyone else will face charges in Cpl. Pokorny's slaying.
Attorney John Elash, who with attorney James Ecker is representing Mr. Mollett, yesterday said he believes investigators' allegations in the affidavit are based on hearsay from people who wish to deflect suspicion from themselves.
"I don't know why anybody would say anything to incriminate themselves,'' he said. "Mr. Mollett denies involvement in the shooting of the trooper."
During their investigation, police focused on locating several men and repeatedly refused to identify those men as suspects in Cpl. Pokorny's slaying. Instead they said they believed the men had valuable information that would assist them.
Their investigation also uncovered additional information about drug dealing and other criminal activity in St. Clair Village and other neighborhoods frequented by men they were seeking.
3 others arrested
Thus far, police have arrested three men -- one for renting a room at the Extended StayAmerica hotel where more than a pound of heroin was discovered and two others for escaping from local halfway houses earlier this year.
Those who have figured publicly in the investigation include:
* Jack Maurice Woods, 23, of St. Clair Village, a fugitive from Ada's House, a halfway house in Stowe.
Police and sheriff's deputies arrested Mr. Woods in Mount Oliver Wednesday night after searching homes of friends and relatives in the South Hills and Ross. As he returned to jail after being arraigned yesterday on escape charges, jail officials sought to figure out how he was mistakenly placed in the halfway house. His hearing is set for Monday.
Mr. Woods also was one of two people who were shot and wounded early on June 19, 2004, outside the former SVS Club on West Warrington Avenue on Mount Washington. That drive-by shooting is believed to have triggered at least five retaliatory shootings between people in St. Clair Village and Beltzhoover, culminating with the slaying of Carrick High School student Keith Watts in March.
* Jabbar Odell James, 28, of St. Clair Village; Phillip Andrew Peterson, 29, who has addresses in St. Clair Village and Swissvale; and Byron Rice, 26, of Arlington Heights. Investigators also sought to interview them after the slaying, saying they believed the men had pertinent information. Police said the men met voluntarily with them Tuesday and left on their own.
* Andrew Lamar Palmer, 21, of St. Clair Village, who also was sought for questioning by investigators. Accompanied by attorney Lee Rothman, Mr. Palmer met with police Tuesday but was arrested on drug possession and distribution charges after more than a pound of heroin was found in a room he rented at the Extended StayAmerica hotel.
Mr. Palmer, who has previously pleaded guilty to drug possession and distribution charges, also was charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute the heroin with Tyrone Bullock and others. His attorney said he was with friends at a nightclub and was not at the hotel when Cpl. Pokorny was killed.
Mr. Palmer is jailed on $2 million straight bond until a hearing Thursday.
* Tyrone Bullock, 40, formerly of Beltzhoover, another recent state prison parolee and fugitive from the Renewal Inc. halfway house, Downtown. Mr. Bullock, who also has a record for drug offenses, was jailed with Mr. Mollett for about six months before he was paroled in February from the State Correctional Institution Fayette.
Mr. Bullock had been sought since he fled from Renewal Inc. in August. He was rearrested Monday by troopers investigating Cpl. Pokorny's slaying and jailed until a parole revocation hearing, set for Wednesday.