Ingram woman who got house arrest in child sex abuse case accused of violating probation

Trista Price pleaded guilty on March 24 to endangering the welfare of children for her role in her then-husband’s sexual and physical abuse of their two children 12 years ago.

The plea agreement called for Price, 38, of Ingram, to serve seven years of probation with two years on house arrest.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Bruce Beemer warned Price at the sentencing hearing that if she did anything to violate her probation, he wouldn’t hesitate to send her to prison.

“If you violate any of these conditions, you know, I’m not going to forget this,” he told her then.

The conditions included one prohibiting Price from having contact with her biological children in any way, including through social media.

Just two days later, police said they received a report that Price had liked a video on her biological daughter’s TikTok account. She was detained by her probation officer on March 29 and has been in custody since.

On Monday, following a hearing to determine whether there was probable cause to support a probation violation, Beemer ordered Price to remain at Allegheny County Jail.

Probation officer Kevin Dell said Price admitted to liking the video on TikTok.

“She’s the one who brought it up in the phone conversation,” he said. “She admitted to liking a video by mistake.”

Dell said he tried to explain to Price the potential harm she could do to the victim by liking her social media.

“She told me the victim was never a victim,” Dell told the court.

Assistant District Attorney Tom Kelly said Price’s behavior was a violation of the no-contact order.

“It hurt. She was instructed at length at her plea regarding what she had to do,” Kelly said.

During Monday’s hearing, defense attorney John Munoz said he believed that his client made a mistake, and that her actions showed a lack of sophistication on social media.

“Liking a video with your own name and picture is just about as close as you can get to walking in here and saying, ‘Take me to jail,’” he said. “All signs indicate this was unintentional.”

Munoz said his client cooperated with investigators and appeared to be doing all the right things. Her ex-husband, Seth Price, pleaded guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, incest, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault and was ordered to serve 5 to 10 years. Prosecutors said that Trista Price also was the victim of her husband’s abuse.

“I still believe in Ms. Price and her ability to move forward — to continue working, to find closure for herself as someone who went through an enduring amount of abuse throughout their life,” Munoz said. “Maybe she didn’t get the message the first time. She got it now. She has to take a step back and realize how serious all of this is.”

Beemer rejected a request from Munoz to allow Price to have either work release or alternative housing.

“What seems inconceivable to me is that she would be on the page at all in the first place to even be in this position,” Beemer said.

He then quoted the statement from Dell in which Price said “they weren’t really victims.’”

“If that’s the position she’s taking with a probation officer, it greatly concerns this court,” Beemer said.

A date for the probation violation hearing had not been set as of Monday afternoon.