Beautician who disguised runaway sentenced to 6 to 23 months

A former Duquesne hair dresser was sentenced this morning to six to 23 months in jail for her role in helping a former school security guard keep a runaway in his McKeesport home for 10 years.

Judith Sokol, 59, pleaded no contest in June for allowing Thomas Hose, 50, to use her home to have sex with Tanya Kach, who ran away at age 14. Sokol altered Kach's appearance by coloring and cutting her hair, police said.

Sokol told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola that she was not aware that Hose used her house to have sex with the girl and said she didn't know if she cut and dyed Kach's hair.

"She could have been a regular customer for all I know," Sokol said. "I would never dye a young girl's hair to change her identity. I have children of my own."

Zottola asked why she admitted to police she was aware of what was going on but later denied she had knowledge of Hose's actions.

"When I was asked questions, I was confused. Everything was twisted and turned around," Sokol said.

Sokol's son, Brandon Sokol, 29, said giving his mother jail time was absurd. He said Hose was a friend of the family and sneaked Kach into the house without anyone's knowledge. He said he lives with his mother.

"She's a victim of the circumstances," Brandon Sokol said. "She did not know he snuck her into the house. Tom Hose is the culprit."

Zottola sentenced Hose in June to five to 15 years in a state prison. Kach told police that Hose held her captive in his parents' house, where she was forced to urinate in a bucket and was let out only twice a week to shower in the basement. In summer 2005, she was allowed out of the house on her own for trips to shop and attend church, she said.

She eventually told her story to a McKeesport deli owner who called police.