Delmont man charged with witness intimidation in sexual assault case
A Delmont man faces witness intimidation charges after police said he repeatedly made contact with a victim in violation of his release conditions in a criminal case.
Brandon J. Pyle, 26, of West Pittsburgh Street was arrested Wednesday and charged prior to a preliminary hearing on sexual assault, simple assault and harassment charges stemming from a Nov. 25 incident.
Delmont police Officer Greg Stull said he was contacted by the female victim in the Nov. 25 incident, who was scheduled to testify at Pyle’s preliminary hearing, set for Wednesday morning in District Judge Charles Conway’s Export court.
The woman said Pyle had contacted her on Tuesday by phone and threatened to “withhold her cash assistance card if she (testified),” Stull wrote in a criminal complaint.
Pyle was out on bail, and one of his conditions of release was no contact with the woman.
Stull said, according to phone logs, not only did Pyle call the victim by phone, but he also sent more than 3,000 text messages since Nov. 25.
Pyle was taken into custody and is scheduled for arraignment at 8 p.m. Tuesday. A Jan. 31 preliminary hearing is scheduled for the charges in both cases.
A court-appointed attorney for Pyle, listed in court records, could not be reached for comment.
Patrick Varine is a TribLive reporter covering Delmont, Export and Murrysville. He is a Western Pennsylvania native and joined the Trib in 2010 after working as a reporter and editor with the former Dover Post Co. in Delaware. He can be reached at pvarine@triblive.com.
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