Mt. Pleasant police officer charged with attempted rape, simple assault

Part-time Mt. Pleasant police Officer John Brown was charged Friday with attempting to rape and sexually assault a woman last month at his former residence in Donegal Township.

State police in Greensburg allege that Brown, 42, invited a group back to his house on Rock Canyon Road in the early morning of Dec. 3 after spending the evening drinking at Rodney's Corner Bar along Austin Boulevard in Acme.

Trooper James Simpson alleges Brown invited a woman in the group upstairs, but they discovered someone “passed out on the couch,” so he suggested they watch television in his bedroom.

The woman said she saw there was no television in his bedroom, then noticed “Brown began removing his pants,” Simpson wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.

Simpson said the woman asked, “What are you doing?” and told Brown they were not going to have sex.

The woman alleged that Brown continued making sexual advances, pulling on her clothes while she attempted to pull away.

Brown ultimately got on top of her, “choked her so she couldn't breathe and struck her in the face several times while stating, ‘You like it rough ... you know you do,' ” Simpson said in the affidavit.

The alleged assault was interrupted when friends of the woman arrived; she privately told them about the incident.

Simpson wrote in the affidavit that one of the witnesses told him that the woman “begged him, ‘Please don't leave me. ... Get me out of here.' ”

The woman, who said she was injured during the assault, reported the crime to state police.

Mt. Pleasant Borough police Chief Douglas Sam said Friday that Brown was “suspended without pay, effective immediately.”

Sam noted that the alleged assault occurred while the officer was off-duty and outside of the borough.

Brown was hired by the borough May 4.

Brown, whose address on the criminal complaint was listed as Mt. Lebanon, was arraigned by video by Ligonier District Judge Denise Thiel. She ordered him to be held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $150,000 bail.

He is charged with attempted rape, attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, attempted sexual assault, indecent assault, aggravated assault and simple assault.

Brown's preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 5 before Thiel.

Paul Peirce is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached at 724-850-2860 or ppeirce@tribweb.com.