Former Uniontown man on parole nabbed at airport
Just two days before his 40th birthday, state constables captured a former Uniontown man at Pittsburgh International Airport who allegedly violated his parole with positive tests for marijuana and pain medication.
The arrest was made as Michael Raven Hickenbottom prepared to depart on a plane for Jamaica with his family.
Fayette County Judge Steve P. Leskinen issued a warrant last week for Hickenbottom’s arrest after he failed to appear for a parole revocation hearing on charges that he tested positive for marijuana and pain medication last year.
Hickenbottom, whose son was shot and killed by state police in 2000 in Uniontown, is on parole for possession of 81.6 grams of marijuana.
He was under the supervision of Westmoreland County’s probation and parole office because he lives in Greensburg, but Hickenbottom’s charges stemmed from incidents in Fayette County.
He was picked up Tuesday morning after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security flagged him as having an active bench warrant for his arrest. However, that bench warrant — issued for failure to appear for the parole violations last month — was lifted Monday after Hickenbottom surrendered and appeared before Leskinen with his attorney, James T. Davis.
The lifted warrant, however, was not reflected when Hickenbottom tried to leave the country with his family on a trip that was planned in advance, according Hickenbottom and Davis.
When it became apparent that Hickenbottom was trying to fly to Jamaica, however, Leskinen issued a bench warrant first thing Tuesday because leaving the country is a violation of his probation in a 2006 drug case.
Constable Mark Pasquale said that after learning of Hickenbottom’s plans, he contacted Allegheny County police, who assisted Pasquale and other constables in making the arrest at the terminal, shortly before Hickenbottom’s plane was set for departure.
Wearing a T-shirt reading “I will step on you to win,” Hickenbottom told the court that he had planned the trip for several months for his birthday and had received oral permission from his probation officer in Westmoreland County to take the trip. However, Fayette County probation officers told the court that permission had not been granted for the trip.
Leskinen said that he lifted the warrant Monday despite a lack of evidence provided by Hickenbottom that he had been unaware of his scheduled court date and said that he had given him “the benefit of the doubt.”
Leskinen said that leaving the country is in direct violation of Hickenbottom’s parole and noted that he failed to mention the trip while in court Monday.
Leskinen also noted that while he is not certain how such matters are handled in Westmoreland County, he was fairly certain that a probation officer would not grant permission for an out-of-country trip without notifying the judge handling the case.
Leskinen detained Hickenbottom until he can appear for a probation revocation hearing, which is scheduled for June 13.
Davis said he will try and have the hearing sooner.
Hickenbottom pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver and possession of marijuana. He was initially sentenced to four years of probation, but violated that.
Leskinen subsequently sentenced him to 11 ½ to 23 months behind bars, and 25 months of probation in June 2010.
He was still on probation in that case when probation officers alleged last month he violated the terms by smoking pot.
According to court documents, Hickenbottom admitted to using marijuana and taking one of his wife’s pain pills.
Following the shooting death of his son, Michael Ellerbe, Hickenbottom sued state police and initially won a $28 million verdict.
After an appeal was filed, the case was settled for $12.5 million.
In July 2010, Hickenbottom came before Leskinen asking to take part in a drug treatment program that relied upon monthly injections to quell an addiction to marijuana and alcohol. That request came after he violated his participation in the intermediate punishment program in that case by smoking marijuana, and was set to be re-sentenced.
Hickenbottom’s attorney at the time, Angelo Papa Jr., said that a shot of Vivitrol every 28 days would block him from feeling the euphoric effects of opiates and alcohol and stop his cravings for them.
Prosecutors did not object to Hickenbottom doing that in lieu of serving prison time in that case, and Hickenbottom completed his parole in that case and it is closed.