Vandergrift man charged with witness intimidation

Allegheny Valley Regional Police charged a man with intimidating a witness after an East Deer woman reported he threatened to beat her and her husband because they alerted police that he tried to steal items from their rental property.

Christopher Thomas Beckett, 42, of the 900 block of Hancock Avenue in Vandergrift faces a felony count of witness intimidation along with charges of harassment and driving with a suspended license. He faces a preliminary hearing Jan. 4 before District Judge Carolyn Bengel, according to court records.

Police said that in late October the woman reported she saw Beckett taking tires and rims from property she owns in the 700 block of Freeport Road, and he returned the items after she confronted him, according to a criminal complaint.

The woman said she called police the next day after she confronted a man trying to break into the house, the complaint said.

Police said the woman also told them a contractor hired to do work on her rental property reported Oct. 31 a faucet he was scheduled to install was missing when he showed up to do the job, the complaint said.

The officer told the woman there was no proof Beckett stole the faucet but said he would speak with him about the incidents, the complaint said.

Police said they went to a home in the 500 block of Freeport Road where Beckett was staying with a friend, but he was not there when they arrived.

But a short time after arriving, police said, he pulled up driving a pickup.

The officer wrote in the complaint he had previous encounters with Beckett and was aware his license was suspended.

He told Beckett he would be charged for the suspended license, but not for having an expired registration and inspection sticker, the complaint said.

Beckett told police he, in fact, had a valid South Carolina driver’s license, police said.

But when the information he provided was checked, they found his Pennsylvania license was suspended along with the one from South Carolina, which was revoked for driving under the influence, the complaint said.

When questioned about the attempted theft from the woman’s property, Beckett told police he was homeless and a drug user and was trying to gather metal that could be scrapped for cash, the complaint said.

Beckett was released after the officer told him he was not permitted to enter anybody’s property without permission or take items unless they agreed, the complaint said.

Police said they were dispatched back to the woman’s home on Freeport Road later the same day after the woman said Beckett threatened her and her husband, the complaint said.

The woman told officers Beckett came to the house and started yelling at them for calling the police on him, the complaint said.

She told them Beckett tried to goad them off the porch so he could “beat both their asses,” the complaint said.

While driving from the house, the officer spotted Beckett walking along Freeport Road and stopped to inform him he was being charged and to warn him again to stay away from the couple, the complaint said.