Former Mt. Pleasant police officer convicted of sexually assaulting 3 women

A former part-time Mt. Pleasant Borough police officer was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting three women in 2014 and 2015.

John A. Brown, 47, of Mt. Lebanon, who had been free on bail, was handcuffed and sent to jail to await a sentencing hearing at which he faces at least 20 years in prison, according to Westmoreland County prosecutors.

Brown was arrested several months after police said he attacked a 20-year-old woman at a Donegal home in December 2015. Prosecutors said media accounts of his arrest prompted multiple women throughout western Pennsylvania to make similar allegations and resulted in five other cases filed against the former cop.

Jurors deliberated more than two hours Friday before finding Brown guilty of nine counts involving three of his accusers. The Tribune-Review doesn’t identify victims of sexual assaults.

In total, jurors found Brown guilty of four counts of indecent assault, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and single counts of aggravated indecent assault and simple assault connected to attacks on women in Allegheny County’s North Park and the Donegal home in 2015 and outside an Emsworth bar in 2014.

The jury acquitted Brown of attempted rape, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and attempted sexual assault involving claims by a woman who said Brown improperly touched her at an Erie Bar in 2014.

During the four-day trial before Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio, prosecutors called Brown a serial sex offender.

“This case is about power and his desire to take anything he wants from women,” said Assistant District Attorney Leo Ciaramitaro in his closing argument.

The prosecution said a series of sexually explicit text message exchanges with one of Brown’s accusers served as a blueprint of how he would later attack and attempt to force her into sexual activity.

Brown did not testify during the trial but, in a video statement given to police and viewed by jurors, Brown denied attacking any woman.

Defense attorney Valerie Veltri argued that, in each case, the women consented to have sexual relations with Brown. She dismissed accusations that the sexual activity was forced.

“Maybe he was aggressive. Maybe that was his style, but that doesn’t mean it’s criminal behavior,” Veltri told jurors.

She said no physical evidence linked Brown to any crimes and called for him to be acquitted.

At the start of the trial, prosecutors withdrew charges stemming from two cases based on allegations by a woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by Brown in Beaver and Allegheny counties.