Real estate broker sentenced

A Green Tree real estate broker was placed on five years' probation Tuesday by an Allegheny County judge for a scheme to bribe a Pittsburgh police officer to have drunken-driving and drug-possession charges dismissed.

Judge Raymond A. Novak found Joseph Gatta, 49, of Elmhurst Drive, guilty in a nonjury trial March 4 on bribery and conspiracy charges.

Gatta, who also is a real estate appraiser, was convicted of conspiring with Chris Nicholas Ganas of Pleasant Hills and former Pittsburgh police Officer Duane Williams to pay $1,000 to Pittsburgh police Officer Timothy Kreger to stay away from a City Court hearing for Gatta.

Kreger, who had arrested Gatta on April 30, 1999 on drunken-driving and drug-possession charges, reported the offer to his superiors and agreed to wiretap surveillance of his contacts with Williams, Ganas and Gatta.

Gatta, who didn't testify in the trial, faced a possible 14 years in prison on the charges.

Williams, 33, of Crafton Heights, pleaded guilty earlier to bribery and conspiracy charges before Common Pleas Judge Gerard Bigley. Williams was sentenced to two years' probation and was forced to resign from the police force.

Last August, Novak placed Ganas, 44, on one year of house arrest followed by five years' probation after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

The original drunken-driving and cocaine-possession charges against Gatta were refiled. He faces trial on those charges July 18 before Common Pleas Judge Lawrence O'Toole.