Man charged with kidnapping, assaulting New Kensington girls
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A Saltsburg man was charged by New Kensington police Monday with kidnapping two girls, ages 6 and 9, early last month and sexually assaulting the older girl.
Eddie Leroy Lambert Jr., 58, is being held in the Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh after bond was denied at his arraignment Tuesday before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.
Lambert is charged with two counts each of kidnapping a minor, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, aggravated indecent assault of a child, endangering the welfare of children and corruption of minors. He also was charged with one count of unlawful restraint of a minor.
He is scheduled to appear before Pallone on Nov. 4 for a preliminary hearing on the charges. He does not have an attorney listed in court documents.
Lambert was arrested Sept. 6 after calling 911 from a Sheetz convenience store in New Kensington and then releasing the girls to a city police officer who responded to the scene, according to a criminal complaint.
After releasing the girls, Lambert fled in his vehicle and led officers from several departments on a chase into Springdale, during which he crashed into a tractor-trailer, the complaint said.
In repeated calls to 911 and after he was stopped, Lambert said he wanted police to shoot him, according to the complaint.
Police say the girls were with Lambert that day after he received permission to take them out for ice cream at a Dairy Queen in New Kensington.
Lambert did not have permission to take the girls to any other locations, including his home in Saltsburg, police said.
After police returned the girls, the older one told her mother that Lambert sexually assaulted her at his house in Saltsburg that day, according to the complaint.
A forensic interview with the girl was conducted Sept. 22 by A Child’s Place victim advocacy center. During the interview, she said, after they got ice cream, Lambert drove to the Golden Dawn supermarket in New Kensington and sexually assaulted her in the back of his vehicle while they were parked in the lot, according to the complaint.
The girl said Lambert then drove to his home in Saltsburg where he sexually assaulted her again, police said.
He then drove back to New Kensington and parked at the Sheetz, where he sexually assaulted her a third time before going into the store to call 911 and report that the girls were with him, according to the complaint.
The girl said Lambert did not sexually assault the younger girl, but she witnessed all three incidents, police said.
Investigators viewed security video from the three stores to verify that his vehicle was there at the times the girl said she was assaulted, police said. Traffic cameras also spotted Lambert’s 2013 Ford Escape heading out of the city along Greensburg Road, which is in the direction of his home, according to the complaint.
Police obtained a warrant to search Lambert’s home and to get his cellphone and a sample of his DNA, according to the complaint.
Springdale police filed separate charges against Lambert in connection with the vehicle pursuit, including felony counts of aggravated assault, flight to avoid apprehension and fleeing from police.
He also is charged with recklessly endangering another person, resisting arrest, driving under the influence and numerous traffic violations.