Apr 9, 2015 3 min read

BURGETTSTOWN – An Allegheny County man accused of poaching a deer last year in Washington Cemetery is facing a string of new, unrelated charges, some of which accuse him of violating federal law by possessing mounted migratory birds.

District Judge Gary Havelka Thursday ordered the suspect, Richard A. Bartoletti Jr., 49, of North Fayette Township, to face trial in Washington County Court on a total of 80 counts of charges he was illegally selling firearms and mounted animals from his home and that of his father’s in Midway.

“He indicated he killed some of them,” an undercover state Game Commission wildlife officer testified at Bartoletti’s preliminary hearing.

The commission initially filed three counts of illegally possessing firearms as a convicted felon against Bartoletti after he allegedly sold a shotgun and mounted turkey Jan. 17 to an undercover officer for $1,000 at his father’s home on Eaton Avenue in Midway. The criminal complaint against him was amended last month to include 80 counts of charges that also included buying and selling big game and wildlife.

The charges stemmed from searches the day of his arrest of his father’s house and his home at 7419 Noblestown Road that produced 23 firearms and 28 mounted animals including deer, a bear and a coyote. The coyote apparently led investigators to initially believe the stuffed animal was a dog, said Bartoletti’s attorney, Chris Blackwell in Washington.

Blackwell said the belief that his client had a dog mount prompted someone to dump garbage on his lawn and many others to criticize him across social media.

Bartoletti is awaiting trial in Washington County Court on charges he illegally killed a buck in October in Washington Cemetery, using food to entice the animal and someone else’s hunting tag to claim the deer.

The case heard Thursday by Havelka resulted from the Game Commission noticing an advertisement in a weekly publication advertising weapons for sale and investigators recognizing its phone number from previous dealings with Bartoletti, wildlife conservation officer Daniel Sitler said.

Havelka lowered 23 counts of illegally possessing firearms against Bartoletti from felony to misdemeanor charges because the suspect had 60 days to sell the weapons under his Feb. 11 guilty plea in a drug case in Allegheny County. Bartoletti is prohibited from possession firearms under a 2005 conviction of endangering the welfare of children, a charge that doesn’t rise to a felony case if he is found with a weapon, Blackwell said.

“He was unaware the 2005 case made him ineligible to possess firearms in the first place,” Blackwell said. “(Most) of these animals were legally shot during hunting season. A few of them were his grandfather’s”

Assistant Washington County District Attorney Michael Fagella said he would review the case to determine the status of the felony counts that were reduced by Havelka.

“We respect the judge’s decision,” he said.

Bartoletti is free on $25,000 bond.