Former Arnold cop pleads guilty to filing false report

A former Arnold police pleaded guilty Monday in connection with allegations that he lied to investigators after he staged what he called a hit and run crash of his city-issued SUV.

Ryan Matthew Clark, 33, of Sarver, told a Westmoreland County judge he was ready to move on with his life two years after the incident that appears to have ended his career as a police officer.

“It’s been a long time. I did what I did and I’m trying to rebuild my life back,” Clark said as he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of making a false report to police. Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Tim Krieger ordered Clark to serve one year on probation.

Prosecutors dismissed a second charge of tampering with evidence.

According to court records, Clark crashed his police vehicle on June 21, 2022. Investigators said Clark initially reported he was a victim of a hit-and run crash in the parking lot of an Arnold convenience store and gas station. Police said Clark claimed he found damage on the left passenger side of the vehicle after he returned from inside of the store.

A subsequent investigation by New Kensington police and Westmoreland County detectives found video from surveillance cameras at the gas station did not support Clark’s story. The video depicted Clark drive into the parking lot, later leave the store and approach the vehicle’s passenger door, remove a piece of its damaged side panel and placed it against the rear fender, police said.

Investigators said they found no video of a hit and run and never determined how Clark’s car was damaged.

Clark worked as a police officer for more than a decade. He was suspended without pay after he was charged in connection with the crash report. Prosecutors said Clark, as a result of his guilty plea, will not be allowed to work as a police officer.

His credibility had been previously challenged in court.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears in an unrelated case in 2022 issued a ruling in which he found Clark’s testimony in a drug case was not credible. Clark, at that time, worked as a member of the state Attorney General’s Drug Task Force and according to court records provided information from a confidential informant that led to an arrest. Mears granted a defense motion to suppress evidence in part based on Clark’s unsupported testimony, according to court records.

As a result of that finding, Mears last month recused himself from presiding over Clark’s case.