After accusing wrong man in mausoleum theft, Pittsburgh police drop charges
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Saying they had the wrong person, Pittsburgh police withdrew charges against one of three men accused of stealing bronze doors and a stained glass window from a mausoleum and selling them to buy heroin.
An investigation found that Nicholas M. Viglione III, 32, of Mt. Washington had no part in the incident, according to a Pittsburgh police press release.
Weeks earlier, Mr. Viglione lost his ID, which the other accused men presented when selling the scraps for cash, police spokeswoman Diane Richard said.
Michael Lawrence, 33, and Travis Haun, 30, face charges of theft by unlawful taking, institutional vandalism, receiving stolen property and desecration of venerated object. They were arrested last week in a home in the 1200 block of Colfax Street on the North Side.
Ms. Richard said the two men took the stolen objects to a home on Colfax Street, chopped them into pieces, sold them as scraps and then used the money to buy heroin.
The case remains under investigation and police are still looking for the stained glass, Ms. Richard said.
First Published January 29, 2013 12:51 am
