Fugitive charged in teen's abuse
Police are searching for a former beautician who allegedly helped hide a 14-year-old runaway with a man now charged with sexual assault of the teen.
Police on Friday obtained a warrant for Judy Sokol, age unknown, charging her with statutory sexual assault and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse for the role authorities say she played in the 1996 disappearance of Tanya Kach.
Kach, now 24, emerged this week from what she called 10 years of captivity and sexual exploitation in the McKeesport home of Thomas John Hose, 48.
Allegheny County police went to Sokol's apartment in Duquesne, but she wasn't there. Neighbors said they hadn't seen Sokol in days.
Hose remains in the Allegheny County Jail, facing the same charges as Sokol. Police said Sokol was charged with those offenses because she hid Kach in her home, cut and dyed the girl's hair and didn't reveal her whereabouts to investigators with Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families looking into Kach's disappearance.
Investigators, who talked with Sokol earlier this week, said she was a friend of Hose's and her McKeesport home was a popular hangout with teenagers.
Sokol said she agreed to alter Kach's appearance as a favor to Hose, even though she "knew Hose was engaged in an inappropriate relationship" with Kach, according to a criminal affidavit.
In an interview yesterday, Kach described the home where she was held captive.
The two-story house with shingled siding and green paint peeling from the front porch is "pretty small inside," she said.
A small living room with a couch and recliner leads to a dining room, Kach said. A door in the dining room opens to stairs leading to the basement, where the home's only bathroom is. In order to flush the toilet, Kach said, she had to pour water in the toilet tank.
A small kitchen with outdated appliances in the back of the house has no microwave and the only phone is rotary dial, Kach said.
There are two small bedrooms upstairs and a small backyard.
"Everything in there is just really old and kind of dirty," she said. "It was dark and depressing."
Hose allowed police to search his parents' home on Wednesday, but investigators declined to say what they found or removed from the Soles Street residence. They have interviewed Hose's parents but have not yet interviewed Hose's son Justin, 22, who occasionally lived at the home.
Hose was a 37-year-old security guard at Cornell Middle School in McKeesport in October 1995 when he caught Kach, an eighth-grader, skipping class. The two talked in a stairwell and then kissed, according to the affidavit. They began secretly dating and made plans for Kach to run away.
She disappeared from her father's McKeesport home on Feb. 10, 1996, and hid in Sokol's home at times for several weeks, according to county police. She then moved into the home where Hose lived with his parents. She told police Hose locked her in an upstairs bedroom.
Investigators believe Hose's parents, Howard and Eleanor Hose, didn't know Kach was in the home until recently.
Hose was still a security guard at the middle school when he was arrested Wednesday. A judge yesterday decided he will spend the weekend in jail until a bail hearing can be conducted Monday.
Common Pleas Judge John A. Zottola ordered the detainer "out of an abundance of caution" and because defense attorney James Ecker could not attend yesterday's hearing.
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. wants Hose held on a higher bond than the $2,000 set at his arraignment. The county bail agency had recommended a bond of $10,000, but District Judge Thomas Miller set it lower.
Miller said yesterday that he was not aware of the bail agency's recommendation and that he set the low bond for several reasons.
"He's never been arrested before, he turned himself in, he lives with his parents, he's employed," Miller explained. "I don't think he posed any threat to anybody else. He's not charged with kidnapping or unlawful restraint.
"Bail is not meant to be punitive. And there was no reason to believe he would not show for court," Miller said.
Prosecutors believe a higher bond is warranted because Hose could face long, mandatory sentences if he is convicted.
Hose has worked as a security guard at Cornell Middle School since 1993. He was employed by Pittsburgh-based St. Moritz Security Services Inc. -- a contractor to the district -- until 2000, when the McKeesport Area School District hired him, district officials said.
The county case has prompted the district to investigate internally, by talking with administrators and staff, said district solicitor Jacob Skezas. The district has no information that Hose did anything inappropriate or spent more time with female students than with males, he said.
The district does not have a policy prohibiting adult staff members from being alone with a child, Skezas said.
Kach described Hose as "very, very popular" with students at the school -- particularly girls - when she attended.
"Everybody had a crush on him," she said.
The school made counselors and a school psychologist available to staff and students following Hose's arrest, Skezas said.
