Ex-Leechburg, Pa, police chief sentenced to jail for sex crime
Michael Diebold, the former Leechburg police chief whose marriage, career and health all came crashing down over the past 18 months, was sentenced Tuesday to prison time after pleading guilty to unlawful contact with a minor and related charges. Diebold, 41, of Leechburg, was sentenced to nine to 23 months in the Westmoreland County Prison by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio. In addition to the prison time, Diebold will spend three years on probation.
The sentencing marks the end of a bizarre saga for the former chief, who lost an arm in an explosion when a mortar misfired as he was lighting fireworks, got married 18 days later, and then split with his wife months later after being accused of contacting an underage girl for sex.
Diebold was arrested in January 2018 after the AG’s office said Diebold used an online messaging app to send inappropriate photos and solicited sexual contact from an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl. The chief also made plans to meet the undercover agent for sex, according to the AG’s office.
“This case is particularly heinous because the perpetrator is a public official, sworn to serve and protect the community,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said in a release. “We have a zero tolerance policy for the sexual abuse of children and my office will prosecute any offender to the fullest extent of the law, no matter who they are.”
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2018/12/11/michael-diebold-sentenced-sex-crime-leechburg-police-chief-westmoreland-county-lost-arm-fireworks/stories/201812110137
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