Pittsburgh man charged by Penn Township police with sexually assaulting teenage girl

Penn Township police said a 23-year-old Pittsburgh man caught in the back seat of his car with a teen last month falsely claimed the girl was his relative and that she had suffered a medical emergency.

After further investigation, Det. Brad Buchsbaum and Sgt. Joseph Lewis determined his story was bogus and said in court documents that Matthew Zhang Blaisdell was sexually assaulting the girl Jan. 23 in the parking lot of Bushy Run Battlefield on Route 993.

Blaisdell, of North Oakland, was charged Friday with one felony count of corruption of a minor by an adult and misdemeanor counts of corruption of minors and indecent assault. He was arraigned before District Judge Helen Kistler, who ordered him held in the county jail without bail as a potential flight risk.

Police Chief John Otto confirmed that U.S. Marshals in Pittsburgh on Friday thwarted an apparent attempt by Blaisdell, who formerly lived in Bethesda, Md., to flee Western Pennsylvania and took him into custody. A representative of the federal agency could not be reached for further information.

According to court documents, township police were working a drug interdiction detail near the park when Buchsbaum noticed a white Honda Civic with a Maryland license plate parked there.

When Lewis pulled in and shined a spotlight on the car, Buchsbaum reported Blaisdell’s head appeared from the backseat and he quickly exited the car.

“(Blaisdell) told Sgt. Lewis he was there with his cousin and she was having a diabetic emergency,” Buchsbaum wrote in court documents.

Lewis reported Blaisdell also provided police with his Maryland driver’s license.

Court records said when Lewis asked why the pair were in the back seat, Blaisdell became “very nervous, shaking and stuttering.”

When police asked what her name was, Buchsbaum said the girl gave officers her first name but said her last name “was the same as his,” meaning Blaisdell.

When Lewis asked the girl to spell her last name, Buchsbaum said Blaisdell began spelling it for her.

Buchsbaum said the pair was separated for further questioning. The girl later told police that Blaisdell “told her to lie because he said he was only 17.”

The girl subsequently told investigators that she met Blaisdell that day after he contacted her through Snapchat. She said Blaisdell picked her up and they agreed to drive to get food.

After getting food at a Sonic restaurant in Hempfield, the girl told police, Blaisdell drove to the park. She got in the back seat to check her blood sugar and Blaisdell joined her there, she said. She told police that Blaisdell began “aggressively kissing” and groping her when police pulled in.

Attempts to reach Blaisdell’s attorney, Patricia Elliott-Rentler of Greensburg, were unsuccessful.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Feb. 9.