A Pittsburgh man is jailed in lieu of $50,000 bond awaiting a hearing in McKeesport on charges that he sought to have sex with a 15-year-old girl.

The state attorney general's office said Evan J. Piterski, 25, is in Allegheny County Jail after his arrest Monday afternoon outside a business along McKeesport's East Fifth Avenue.

“We were approached by the attorney general's office about offering cooperation,” city police Capt. Tim Hanna said Wednesday. “Chief (Bryan J.) Washowich was on board instantly.”

Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane said Wednesday that Piterski posted an ad on an online classified website seeking a sexual encounter with a woman.

Kane's assistant press secretary Jeffrey A. Johnson said an agent in the Attorney General's Child Predator Section posed as a teen and arranged an in-person meeting with Piterski on Monday at a location along the 2300 block of East Fifth.

“We are always working to ensure that we maintain collaborative relationships with local law enforcement agencies, although this was an online investigation that was initiated by the Child Predator Section,” Johnson said.

As Hanna stressed, suspects that are termed “travelers” by the attorney general's office are not locals, but are lured to McKeesport because the city's police “are able and have the means to offer assistance and manpower to assist properly with these investigations.”

Hanna said city police have assisted the attorney general's agents on approximately five such “travelers.”

“Our agents rely on their training in these cases, which includes a focus on computer-based offenses and online solicitations,” Johnson said. “It is common for them to access online classified websites in an ongoing effort to apprehend those who seek to exploit children.”

Piterski was arraigned in Pittsburgh Municipal Court on one count each of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, criminal attempt to commit indecent assault and criminal use of a communication facility.

A preliminary hearing for Piterski is scheduled at 1 p.m. Monday before Magisterial District Judge Eugene F. Riazzi Jr.

Johnson said he had no information on Piterski's possible record. A search of online state court records turned up two traffic violations against Piterski, both resolved on the magisterial level outside of the McKeesport area.

Patrick Cloonan is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-664-9161, ext. 1967, or pcloonan@tribweb.com.

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