Tarentum man who served prison time for child rape accused of racist tirades, threatening police
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Five felony counts of ethnic intimidation are among the nearly two dozen charges a Tarentum man faces after, police say, he repeatedly screamed a string of racial slurs at his neighbors and then threatened to harm officers if they tried to arrest him.
In addition to the ethnic intimidation charges, Tarentum police charged Stanley Coffey III, 42, of the 100 block of Eighth Avenue with eight counts of making terroristic threats, along with possession of an instrument of crime, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and seven counts of harassment in connection.
The charges stem from an alleged incident on April 20, according to a criminal complaint.
Coffey was being detained in the Allegheny County Jail after a judge determined he is a danger to the community and denied bail, court records show. He faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Carolyn Bengel on Wednesday, May 10.
Police wrote in a criminal complaint that officers previously had been called to Coffey’s house because he was drunk and screaming racial slurs at his neighbors.
One of the residents told police that, in addition to repeatedly calling his neighbors a racial slur, Coffey threatened to “hang all of your (expletive) children with a rope,” the complaint said.
He also is accused of saying he hopes “your (expletive) baby chokes on his own vomit” and “I will kill your (expletive) baby,” police said.
One of Coffey’s neighbors gave police a video that showed him screaming racial slurs before slamming a woman’s car door where her 1-year-old baby was seated, the complaint said.
Police were called back to Coffey’s house shortly after 10:30 p.m. the same day when neighbors said he was outside again yelling racial slurs at them, according to the complaint.
Responding officers asked Coffey’s wife to relay a message for him to come out and speak with them, the complaint said.
She told them she didn’t think he would do that because, while she had been trying to calm him down earlier, he told her: “I ain’t going back to jail. I have a crossbow if they try to come and get me,” the complaint said.
For nearly two hours, Coffey went in and out of the house, each time yelling slurs and profanities at police, according to investigators.
Officers from several local departments surrounded the house, and the Allegheny County SWAT unit was called to the scene, the complaint said.
While waiting for the Special Weapons and Tactics team to arrive, Tarentum Officer Charles Lutz, who was stationed at the side of Coffey’s home, was able to sneak up behind Coffey and use a Taser to disable him and take him into custody, the complaint said.
Court records show that in November 2001, Coffey pleaded guilty in Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court to felony counts of rape of a child under the age of 13 and statutory sexual assault.
He also pleaded guilty to counts of indecent assault of a person younger than 13 and indecent assault of a person younger than 16.
Coffey was sentenced to serve three to six years in prison, the docket shows. He also is listed as a lifetime sex offender on the state’s Megan’s Law registry.