Woman recounts episodes with suspect
When Aaron Kastein was arrested on charges of hiding under the bed of a Mt. Lebanon woman last week, the scenario was all too familiar for Jo Anne Kohler.
Kohler knew of Kastein because he had prowled about her Mt. Lebanon home, where her granddaughter was staying while attending college.
She said she twice bumped into Kastein in the darkened house.
"I never heard him make a noise. That's what is so scary," Kohler said, "I never knew if he was in the house or not."
Kastein, 22, of Inglewood Drive, Mt. Lebanon, was found under a neighbor's bed on Jan. 18 and told her he was playing hide-and-seek, police said. He turned himself in to police on Monday and was charged with criminal trespass.
The incidents at the Kohler house, also in Mt. Lebanon, happened in May 2000.
Kohler thought her 19-year-old granddaughter, who stayed with her while attending Point Park College, had brought home a friend who possibly had too much to drink. The young woman told her grandmother she had not brought anyone home.
Then, on June 7, Kohler saw a man standing in the hall in the late afternoon.
The man told Kohler, "someone is chasing me," and ran out of the house, she said.
She called police, who "knew instantly" whom to suspect, Kohler said.
Police arrested Kastein the next day, based on what Kohler had told them. He was charged with two counts of criminal trespass.
Kohler told her daughter, Linda Kozlovich of Uniontown, that on two nights she unexpectedly placed her hands on a young man's chest in the dark, first-floor hallway of her Hillaire Drive home. Two other times during those two weeks, she saw a man in the dark hallway at night, Kozlovich said.
Kozlovich said her daughter, Heather, moved back to Uniontown and transferred to another college, not in Pittsburgh, after Kostein was jailed. "(She) wanted to be away before he got out," she explained.
Linda Kozlovich said she had asked to be notified when Kastein was released from jail, but was not notified.
Mt. Lebanon police said Kastein pleaded guilty to hiding in a house on Parkview Drive on June 16, 1999, and in a house on Osage Road on July 5, 1999, to look at young women. He pleaded guilty to both incidents and on May 8, 2000, began serving two years' probation.
On June 7, 2000, he was found hiding in Kohler's house and, on Aug. 17, 2000, he was found hiding in the back seat of a vehicle in Dormont. After conviction for both incidents, he was sentenced to jail and probation for charges including criminal trespass and stalking.
He was released on parole from Allegheny County Jail in June 2001 after serving 11 1 / 2 months of a 11 1 / 2 - to 23-month sentence.
A seven-year probation, part of Kastein's sentence, was to begin in May, Michael Manko, spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney's office, said.
But Manko also said "there is a real possibility" he could go to prison for those seven years.
Kastein is being held in Allegheny County Jail on a detainer for violating his parole.
After his arrest in Dormont, Kastein told police he had never dated, but likes to be near pretty women without their knowing he is there, according to Dormont police.
Mt. Lebanon police Deputy Chief Henry Egal said "anyone who does things like that is dangerous, because it could escalate" or the intruder could be found by an armed homeowner who may fear for his life.
Kostein's mother declined comment and would not permit his attorney to comment.
Stephanie Walsh, executive director of the Center for Victims of Violent Crimes, which notifies victims when their attackers are released from Allegheny County Jail, verified that another victim was notified when Kastein was released.
Walsh emphasized that notification by the private, non-profit agency "rests with the victim registering … we have to talk directly … that's the only way to get someone on the list."
The 30-year-old center for victims, besides the notification program, provided services to 9,000 victims of a variety of crimes in 2001, Walsh said. Its 24-hour hot line is (412) 392-8582.
