Arnold woman charged with assaulting 2 girls, adult

An Arnold woman is accused of assaulting two young girls and the mother of one of them while meeting to discuss a previous assault.

Leeda Marie Settle, 33, of the 1700 block of Leishman Avenue was charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault on a person under the age of 13 and a count of felony aggravated assault.

She was released from custody on a $25,000 unsecured bond and faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on Aug. 16.

Police said they responded to a call shortly before 10:30 p.m. on June 6 in the 300 block of 17th Street about three people being assaulted, according to a criminal complaint.

An officer met with two women and their daughters who told him that they had arranged a meeting with Settle to discuss an incident in which their daughters allegedly were “jumped” while leaving Roosevelt Park by a group of juveniles that included Settle’s daughter, the complaint said.

One of the women told police that, while she was speaking to another person at the scene, she saw Settle hit the other mother in the mouth and loosen her tooth.

During the altercation between Settle and the woman, one of the girls was hit in the eye and the other was hit in the head, the complaint said.

Police said the girls were checked by emergency medical responders who reported that blood vessels were broken in one girl’s eye and the other one suffered bruises on her neck, according to Settle’s arrest papers.

Court records show that Settle was ordered to stand trial in January 2017 on a misdemeanor drug charge filed by state police in Greensburg. The last docket entry for the case was in November 2017 ordering Settle to appear for formal arraignment on the charge.

Settle pleaded guilty in Allegheny County Court in 2013 to misdemeanor drug charges and was sentenced to six months probation, according to court records.

She also pleaded guilty in September 2008 to a misdemeanor charge of making terroristic threats and was sentenced to two years of probation and a year of electronic monitoring in connection with a 2007 robbery in New Kensington, court records show.