Pennsylvania – A Pennsylvania man was arrested last week after county detectives located him at a residence and served a warrant in connection with an incident that occurred earlier this year. The defendant, 24-year-old J. Dagherty, faces roughly two dozen criminal counts, including multiple aggravated assauIt charges, one count of aggravated assauIt of an unborn chiId, two counts of kidnapping and charges related to unlawfuI restraint and firearms offenses. He was taken to the county jail and was awaiting arraignment.
Police accounts and court paperwork say the events began in Aug. when the defendant went to the apartment of his former girIfriend. According to the victim’s statement in the criminal complaint, he then forced his way into the home and kept the woman inside for about two days. When she told him she had a new partner and that she was carrying the man’s child, she told investigators he repeatedly struck her in the beIIy over the course of those days. The complaint describes a prior history of assaults by the defendant against the same woman, and court documents note he had recently been released from jail after an earlier assault.
Several days later, the victim was able to take a phone call from her new partner, who, along with a second man, went to the apartment to try to remove her. Court records allege the defendant fired a single shot at the two men; one of the men was struck in the leg and later treated at a local hospital. After the gunfire, he allegedly grabbed the victim’s keys, forced the woman and a young child into a vehicle and drove away. The criminal complaint says the child was later released unharmed and the woman was eventually left near her apartment. The unidentified victim told Pennsylvania authorities that the defendant instructed her to say the right things to officers if they questioned her.
Investigators say the victim managed to contact dispatchers while the defendant was driving. Dispatchers were able to begin tracing the vehicle, which allowed law enforcement to follow leads, but he eluded capture at that time and was not located until detectives traced him months later to the residence. When deputies executed the search warrant, he attempted to flee through a first-floor window but retreated after seeing a police K-9 and was arrested without further incident, sheriff’s office representatives said. He was reportedly staying with his child’s mom.
Pennsylvania authorities noted in public statements that the defendant was prohibited from possessing firearms because of prior convictions. The sheriff’s office also said deputies and detectives coordinated to locate the suspect over several months before making the arrest.
