The owner of a local natural gas well drilling and supply company is accused of stealing gas from Peoples TWP to supply his own customers.

Jeffrey Zinchini, 57, of Orr Avenue, Oklahoma Borough, is also accused of stealing $207,000 worth of natural gas over a four-year period from a Peoples TWP pipeline in Allegheny Township and selling it to another major natural gas provider.

He owns Winfall Energy, a drilling company based in Allegheny Township.

Zinchini is accused of tapping into a 3-inch service line that previously fed gas to the Vandergrift Golf Course on Community Park Drive. A “T” connection sent gas to an above-ground manifold operated by Winfall, according to a police criminal complaint.

“He had his own private well close to (Peoples TWP's) line, and there were problems with his well,” said Allegheny Township police Chief John Fontaine. “And in order to keep supplying his customers in the area, he was diverting the (Peoples) natural gas to supply his customers.”

Winfall has 38 active gas wells in Armstrong, Butler, Clarion and Westmoreland counties, according to state Department of Environment Protection records. The company isn't registered with the state Public Utility Commission, and it's unclear whether the company should have been, a spokeswoman said.

Allegheny Township police and Westmoreland County detectives charged Zinchini on Monday after a lengthy investigation that involved an analysis of the gas used from the Peoples TWP line and what fed into the Winfall line.

A Peoples spokesman said the company could not comment because of the ongoing litigation.

No one from Winfall Energy returned calls seeking comment.

Peoples TWP workers discovered the illegal tap-in in November 2012 when they came to cut off a service line that formerly fed gas to the Vandergrift Golf Course.

The line should have had no pressure, but crews found the service line was opened and feeding gas to Winfall Energy's line nearby.

While Peoples workers were at the site, Zinchini arrived, according to a police criminal complaint. He started acting nervous and paced and continued to ask the workers how they knew there was a problem with their pressure and why they were digging there, the complaint states.

Zinchini allegedly told the crew he had his workers install the connection to serve the Vandergrift Golf Course from his own system, according to a police criminal complaint.

He said he later discontinued use of the line and shut the valve, but the Peoples' workers found evidence to the contrary.

There was a separate connection providing a point of sale from Winfall to Equitable Gas, which was bought by Peoples in late 2013.

From that connection, Peoples was able to measure what was sold to Equitable between 2009 and 2013.

Their analysis found the amount sold was 56,000 mcf, which is more than what Winfall Energy produced.

That amount of gas is worth $207,000.

The figure doesn't include what Winfall piped directly to users, according to the criminal complaint.

Among the charges Zinchini faces is reckless endangerment, because he put others in danger by tapping into a natural gas line and reactivating a line that Peoples' crews believed to be empty.

“It could have been an explosive case because he tapped into a main trunk line, and it was very hazardous situation,” Fontaine said.

Zinchini is also charged with theft, deceptive business practices and criminal mischief.

Jodi Weigand is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-226-4702 or jweigand@tribweb.com.

---

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)

---