Suspect charged with threatening to kill New Kensington victims if they testified against him
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Police say Jerry Lavelle Hardy didn’t want the victims of his alleged crimes to testify against him in court, so he threatened to kill them.
Hardy, 48, of Stratford Avenue in Pittsburgh’s Friendship neighborhood was scheduled for a hearing before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on Thursday on charges of assaulting one woman and holding another woman against her will earlier in the month.
But on the day of the hearing, the women told police, Hardy threatened them over the phone if they showed up at his hearing.
According to the new complaint against Hardy, one of the alleged victims was talking to a friend on the telephone when Hardy grabbed the friend’s phone and threaten the victim.
“Yea, you have court today. … I’m going to kill you,” Hardy said, according to the complaint.
The woman told police she passed the telephone to the other alleged victim and he repeated the threat to her, the complaint said.
Hardy was taken into custody and charged with two felony counts of intimidating a witness along with two counts of making terroristic threats.
He originally was arrested by New Kensington police Feb. 12 after police were dispatched to a home along Fifth Avenue for a domestic dispute.
A woman told police she was visiting a friend in another apartment and that Hardy was “blackout drunk” when he punched her in the face and body because she tried to leave, according to a criminal complaint.
The woman had a bloody gash on her cheek and was complaining of rib pain, police said.
Police went to the apartment after the woman told them Hardy was still there holding her friend against her will, the complaint said.
An officer used a battering ram to get inside the apartment after nobody answered his repeated knocks, and he heard a man and woman scuffling inside, the complaint said.
The woman told police that she didn’t answer the door because she was afraid Hardy would hurt her, the complaint said. Before police arrived, she said, Hardy threw hot grease at her, which police noted was splashed across the kitchen floor.
Hardy was taken into custody and charged with misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and simple assault. Hardy also had a warrant for his arrest on robbery charges filed by Pittsburgh police, according to the complaint.
After police searched the apartment and found a loaded handgun in a closet, Hardy was charged with a felony firearm violation because he is not permitted to possess a gun. Police said the gun was found along with some of Hardy’s clothing.
Hardy was released from the Westmoreland County jail Feb. 13 after a family member posted 10% of the $25,000 cash bail that was set at his arraignment, according to court records.
He was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing before District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr. on Feb. 23, but that hearing did not occur because Hardy was arrested on the threat charges.
He is being detained in the Westmoreland County jail to await a March 9 preliminary hearing on both sets of charges before Pallone after his bond was revoked, court records show.
Hardy is not allowed to possess a firearm because he pleaded guilty in 1994 to felony counts of robbery, criminal conspiracy and making terroristic threats along with a count of simple assault. He was sentenced to five years of probation in that case, which was filed by Pittsburgh police.
Court records show that Hardy pleaded guilty in 2006 to a felony charge of carrying a firearm without a license along with illegal possession of a firearm, fleeing from police and marijuana possession. He was sentenced to one to two years in jail and a year of probation. The charges were filed by Pittsburgh police.
In 2003, Hardy pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs with the intent to deliver and carrying a firearm without a license, which are felonies, along with five related drug charges and counts of tampering with evidence and fleeing from police. He was sentenced to five years of probation, court records show.