Crime & Safety

Thief Rams Truck Through Facchiano Gate on McNeilly Road

And other Baldwin Twp. police news from Jan. 27-Feb. 9.

Burglary at Facchiano Contracting Property Near Route 88

Police in West Virginia have arrested John Chambers, 28, of Cameron, WV—and more recently, of Barbadoes Avenue in Pittsburgh's Brookline neighborhood—on charges that Chambers broke into Michael Facchiano Contracting property in and drove a stolen truck through a Facchiano security gate onto McNeilly Road.

received a call at around 9:39 p.m. on Feb. 1 that an automatic gate in front of the Facchiano property in the 100 block of McNeilly Road was swinging out into traffic. When township police officers arrived, they reported that the property had been burglarized, according to township police Chief Terrence P. O'Brien.

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Officers discovered broken glass and learned that an assorted amount of tools and other equipment had been stolen, including a 2004 Ford truck, which police say was used by Chambers to ram open the security gate and drive to West Virginia. The truck was recovered the next day in Cameron, and investigations led authorities to arrest Chambers shortly after.

Chambers was a resident of Brookline when the Facchiano break-in occurred.

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"He was moving back and forth from here (Pittsburgh) to Cameron," O'Brien said. "I think he used the truck to get back home (to Cameron) again."

Baldwin Township police are charging Chambers with burglary, vehicle theft and receiving stolen property.

Facchiano Contracting's office is in the 800 block of McNeilly in Mt. Lebanon, but the company owns Baldwin Township land further down McNeilly toward Route 88.

DUI Arrest, Suspected Cocaine

Baldwin Township police say that a motorist attempted to elude police officers when they tried to pull him over for speeding through the 500 block of McNeilly at around 1:14 a.m. on Feb. 4.

O'Brien said that the motorist—George Tilley, 53, of Royal Oak Road in —ignored Baldwin police as he continued to drive north on McNeilly through Mt. Lebanon and to the McNeilly-Pioneer Avenue intersection in Dormont Borough, where Baldwin police were joined by officers from the .

Tilley eventually stopped near that intersection, O'Brien said, and when officers spoke with Tilley, they reported smelling an alcoholic beverage. Tilley was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol. He refused to be subjected to a blood test and was taken to the Allegheny County Jail.

Police reported finding a small amount of a controlled substance in Tilley's vehicle—believed to be cocaine—and are charging Tilley with possession of that substance in addition to DUI. He is also being charged with speeding, failure to drive on the right side of the road, failure to obey traffic controls and attempting to elude police.

DUI Arrest of Beechview Man

Baldwin Township police pulled over a motorist on Sussex Avenue at around 2:12 a.m. on Feb. 5 for speeding through the 400 block of McNeilly and for failing to stop at a red light at the McNeilly-Sussex intersection.

While an officer was speaking with the motorist—Hubert Walko, 43, of Saranac Avenue in Pittsburgh's Beechview neighborhood—the officer reported smelling an alcoholic beverage. The officer put Walko through field-sobriety tests, which he failed, before arresting him for suspicion of DUI and taking him to for a blood test. Results of that test are pending.

In addition to the DUI charge, Walko is being charged with failure to drive on the right side of the road and failure to obey traffic controls. UPDATE: The traffic charges were .

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