Somerset County sheriff charged with corruption of minors

Somerset County Sheriff Dustin Weir was charged Thursday with corruption of minors, according to court documents detailing an alleged incident at a Shop With a Cop event last December.

Weir, 46, of Quemahoning, is accused of taking a 15-year-old girl to the condom aisle of a Walmart during the event last December, according to a criminal complaint.

Attorney General Dave Sunday said Weir’s alleged behavior “harms the image and reputation of law enforcement officers who spend their days making sacrifices to keep communities safe.”

Matthew Zatko, Weir’s attorney, denied the allegations Thursday.

“I want to make it perfectly clear that these allegations are baseless and Sheriff Weir absolutely denies all of them,” Zatko said in an emailed statement. “Instead, it appears that these claims are made on behalf of the alleged victim by a disgruntled ex-employee of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office who was fired by Sheriff Weir mere weeks before these allegations were made.”

Weir has worked in the sheriff’s office since 2001, according to the Somerset County government website. He became sheriff in 2024 after working as acting sheriff from April 2021 to December 2023.

Somerset County commissioners Brian Fochtman, Irvin Kimmel Jr. and Pamela Tokar-Ickes did not respond Thursday to phone calls and emails seeking comment.

A preliminary hearing has not yet been scheduled.

State police contacted

The 15-year-old girl’s mother told state police April 10 that she was fired from her job as a clerk in the sheriff’s office on March 24, according to the criminal complaint. The woman said she was hired by the sheriff’s office in 2021 and that Weir was her direct supervisor.

The woman was interviewed again by state police in late May, along with her daughter. The girl told police she was working the photo booth at the December Shop with a Cop event when Weir and another sheriff’s office employee asked her to go to the condom aisle with them.

The girl told police she declined multiple times but Weir and his colleague persisted “to the point where she thought she did not have a choice,” the criminal complaint says.

Weir asked the girl if she had a boyfriend, already had sex or owned or used any sex toys, the criminal complaint says. The girl told police she replied no.

The girl told police that Weir said “If I was your boyfriend, I would have had sex with you already,” according to the complaint.

Weir asked the girl to stand next to the condoms for a photo, the complaint says, but she declined and walked away while Weir and the other sheriff’s office employee were on their phones.

Walmart security footage shows the girl, Weir and his colleague walking to the condom section and Weir pointing to something on the shelves, the complaint says.

Inappropriate comments alleged

The woman said her daughter told her the day of the Shop with a Cop event that Weir wanted to take her somewhere in the store and that she felt uncomfortable about it. The girl did not disclose to her mother what Weir said to her until January or February, according to the complaint.

The woman told police she did not confront Weir about the situation out of fear she would be fired from her job.

The woman also showed police screenshots of text messages she says Weir sent about her daughter to a group chat — including Weir’s colleague and one of the woman’s friends, who does not work in the sheriff’s office.

One message, the complaint says, reads “Just took (girl’s name) to the condom section. She said she don’t need them. She’s protected.”

Other texts include “other sexually inappropriate comments” about the girl, the complaint says.