Fayette man jailed for burglary wants bail reduction for setting up attorney's drug bust
A Fayette County man said in a self-filed motion that he should be let out of jail because he helped police to snag his own attorney on drug charges.
In a handwritten motion seeking to have his $155,000 bail reduced, Les Aaron Yauger claimed he had an agreement with the district attorney's office in which “he would be released on bail again for a reasonable amount” if he helped them “set Brian Salisbury up and have him bring heroin to the police station.”
Salisbury, 34, is a Newell attorney who previously represented Yauger in at least three pending criminal cases. When Yauger was picked up July 25 on a bench warrant for failure to appear for sentencing in the three cases, Uniontown police said he told them that he could persuade Salisbury to deliver heroin to him within the confines of a cell to avoid becoming “dope sick.”
Police said Salisbury, in response to a phone call from Yauger, delivered suspected heroin and Xanax pills to Yauger at the Uniontown booking center.
Yauger is now represented by the public defender's office, according to court records, but he filed the bail reduction request without help from an attorney. In the two-page filing, he said he has yet to hear from the district attorney's office regarding the alleged promise to help him with bail reduction and to recommend a “small sentence” in the three pending cases.
“My life has been threatened here cause inmates are upset I got their attorney cased up,” Yauger wrote in the filing. “Please, I am begging you to please give me one more chance on bail.”
A hearing on the request has not been set. Jack Heneks, the district attorney, said he would oppose a bail reduction. In addition, he said there was “no deal made in regard to his present cases.”
The three pending cases include a 2010 burglary in which Yauger is accused of taking 10 rifles, three shotguns, a computer and a purse from a Wharton Township home in December 2010.
According to a criminal complaint, Yauger was helping four other people to steal the items when he got into a fight with one of his accomplices. During the fight, Yauger's elbow broke the glass on a gun cabinet, and one of his accomplices “struck him with a bag” filled with the stolen items.
Police used DNA from blood found inside the gun cabinet to identify Yauger as one of the alleged burglars, according to a criminal compaint.
In the second case, police were questioning three other people in a motel room at Melody Motor Lodge in Dunbar Township in regard to a different burglary when Yauger exited the bathroom and left. Officers who entered the bathroom said they found 43 stamp bags of heroin and Yauger's wallet near the trash can.
In the third case, Uniontown police said Yauger was in possession of 13 bags of heroin and $2,607 in cash when they picked him up April 23 at Mahoney's bar in the city on a parole violation. When an officer asked Yauger to identify himself, he gave them the name of the city's police chief, Jason Cox.
“When I asked Yauger if he had identification on him, he advised me that he did not,” said Uniontown police Officer Matthew Painter in the criminal complaint. “When I asked him what his name was, he stated, ‘Jason, Jason Cox.' ”
Court records indicate Yauger had entered into a plea bargain in the three cases that called for a sentence of 40 to 80 months on burglary and drug charges. He withdrew his guilty pleas shortly after he was picked up on the bench warrant, and the cases are pending trial.
Salisbury, who is free on a $25,000 unsecured bond, is awaiting a preliminary hearing on charges of possession, possession with intent to deliver and contraband.
Liz Zemba is a reporter for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-601-2166 or lzemba@tribweb.com.
