Suspended Mount Pleasant police officer charged in 5 new sexual assault cases
A former Mount Pleasant police officer who is awaiting trial for attempted rape is facing new charges after four more women reported he forced himself on them.
John Andrew Brown, 44, of Mount Lebanon allegedly forced sex acts on the women in Allegheny, Erie and Beaver Counties in 2014 and 2015. He was suspended without pay in January last year after a woman reported he choked her and attempted to rape her in a Donegal Township residence.
The Herald-Standard does not identify those who allege they are victims of sexual assault.
One women reported Brown to police after seeing a news story about the attempted rape case, and reported he did something similar to her in March 2014. She told police she met Brown at a bar, and he later invited her to a concert. After the concert they returned to the bar where they met, Sunny Jim’s Tavern in Emmsworth, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his case.
She said he invited her to his truck to talk, and forcefully grabbed her head and kissed her. She said she pulled away and later attempted to get out of the truck, but it was locked and would not open. He allegedly forced her to perform a sex act on him.
Brown allegedly intimidated the women by calling himself their “master” before forcing them to perform sex acts on him. Two of the alleged victims were employed with him at the State Security and Investigation Services, where he worked as a training instructor. He allegedly told those women he had “connections” and could get them fired.
Brown was training a woman for a firearms certification at Beaver Valley Rifle and Pistol Club in Beaver Falls in April 2015 when he allegedly pushed her against a wall and attempted to kiss her. She pushed him away and said “that was not why she was there,” and he apologized, according to the affidavit.
They later went to dinner, and when she attempted to leave he said “You can’t leave. You need to pay up. Get in my truck,” according to the affidavit. When she resisted, he allegedly said “I’m your master. You’ll do what I say,” and “You don’t have a choice” before forcing her to perform a sex act on him. She told police he had a gun and could have shot her, and she was intimidated by their size difference and his position as an officer. He told her that if she reported him, no one would believe her, according to the affidavit.
He allegedly forced her to perform a sex act on him a second time at the Pittsburgh office of SSIS, saying “I’m your master. Don’t forget, I’m connected.” Charges were filed in two separate cases.
In October 2015, he allegedly groped a woman repeatedly at Docksider Tavern in Erie. The woman called for someone to pick her up. She worked at SSIS, and said she did not report him for fear of retaliation.
Another woman told police she met Brown at a rib and wing fest at North Park in Pine Township in September 2014, where he allegedly forced her to perform a sex act in his truck. She told police she tried to get out, but the door was locked.
He is charged with five counts of indecent assault, four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of aggravated indecent assault.
Magisterial District Judge Denise S. Thiel set bail at $200,000 in the first four cases and $50,000 for the Erie case. Brown remains lodged in Westmoreland County Prison.