Manor police officer accused of impersonating UPMC police, stealing credit cards, key from employee

A Manor Borough police officer is accused of breaking into a UPMC building, impersonating a UPMC police officer and taking credit cards and a key from an employee’s office.

Justin R. Hall, 39, of Washington Township, Westmoreland County, was observed on security camera footage entering the UPMC Baum/Ross Building, located at 4601 Baum Blvd. in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, just before 2 p.m. on Jan. 15, according to a criminal complaint filed by UPMC police.

A female UPMC employee called UPMC police on Jan. 16 to report 14 credit cards and a key marked “157” missing from a cabinet in her office in the Baum/Ross Building.

She told police that Hall, her ex-boyfriend, called her on Jan. 15 saying that he knew what she was “up to” at work. He also asked why she had a key marked “157.” She told police he would not have known about the key if he had not been in her office.

She told police Hall sent her an email just before 10 p.m. Jan. 15 saying that he would see her at work the next day.

Another UPMC employee told police she encountered a man who identified himself as a police officer — showing a “UPMC Police” badge — while she was moving into her office in the Baum/Ross building around 1:15 p.m. on Jan. 15.

The employee accidentally set off the alarm while moving her items into the building from a friend’s car, the complaint said. After disabling the alarm, the employee and her friend began exiting the garage when they encountered a pickup truck with its front grill smashed in. The truck moved out of the way to let them pass, the complaint said.

The employee parked next to the building and used her badge to access the lobby to reset the alarm. When she returned to the vehicle, the man with the UPMC Police badge said he needed to be let in to the elevator. The employee let him in and apologized for setting off the alarm, the complaint said.

The man, identified as Hall via security camera footage, was seen exiting the elevator and the lobby around 2:30 p.m. Hall was a UPMC police officer until July 2021, the complaint said.

The Baum/Ross Building was closed Jan. 15 due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the complaint said.

Hall was serving a six-week suspension from his position at the Manor Police Department prior to his arrest, according to Mayor Ed Malinoski. The suspension was unrelated to the charges, Malinoski said, but he would not provide further details.

Hall was arraigned early Thursday morning. An attorney was not listed in court papers. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in Pittsburgh Municipal Court.