Former Fallowfield Township police Capt. Allen E. Pettit admitted Tuesday that he stole drugs from the department's evidence locker and then lied in court about what happened to those drugs.
Pettit, 47, of 824 Maple St., Harwick, Allegheny County, formerly of South Franklin Township, pleaded guilty before Washington County Judge Paul Pozonsky to theft and perjury.
He was sentenced to 1 to 2 years in a state prison. He will be allowed to participate in the state's new Recidivism Risk Reduction Initiative, which according to Pettit's attorney, Sam Pangburn, will allow him to apply for a 25 percent reduction in his sentence.
Pettit also will receive credit for the nearly 6 months of jail time he has served since his arrest in October.
Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of hindering apprehension, tampering with evidence and obstructing the administration of law in exchange for Pettit's plea.
He was charged for stealing nearly a pound of marijuana and 5 ounces of cocaine from the Fallowfield Township police deparment. The drugs were confiscated during a February 1, 2006, raid on a Van Voohris residence.
Pettit's arrest stemmed from an investigation conducted by the Washington County district attorney's office after the Observer-Reporter learned that prosecutors were considering dropping charges against Charles Paith, who was arrested in the 2006 drug raid, because the evidence was missing.
Prosecutors were concerned that they could not try the case against Paith unless Pettit would testify to the missing drugs. However, Pettit's background posed problems.
Pettit resigned from the township police department in October 2006 amid an investigation into his use of the township credit card to purchase gasoline for himself and a friend.
In July 2007, Pettit pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced to 12 months of probation.
Pettit never reported his conviction to the Municipal Police Officers Training and Education Commission, which oversees certification for municipal police officers.
Pettit also failed to give the information to Springdale Township Police Department, where he had been working as a part-time officer. Pettit was immediately released from the force.
Meanwhile, the investigation determined that Pettit had repeatedly lied about the drugs.
In April 18, 2007, during a suppression hearing on the Paith case before Judge John DiSalle, Pettit testified that the drugs had been destroyed because cases against four other defendants were dismissed and the police department forgot that Paith's case was ongoing.
In September 2007, Pettit left two voice mail messages on former District Attorney Gene Vittone's cell phone stating that he couldn't find the drugs and he believed that they were destroyed by former police Chief William Ritenour. Vittone was the district attorney in charge of prosecuting the case at that time.
Ritenour denied destroying any drugs prior to his retirement, while Vittone was able to produce the calls made to him by Pettit.
At Pettit's preliminary hearing, several men testified that they had consumed drugs provided to them by Pettit.
Those men were prepared to testify against Pettit at trial, said Assistant District Attorney Josh Carroll.
The case against Paith is still pending as prosecutors try to determine if they can proceed without the drugs as evidence, said Carroll.