Allegheny County jail guard charged in drug scheme released on bond

The former Allegheny County correctional officer accused in state court of taking illegal drugs into the jail and charged in federal court with possessing a modified shotgun will be released from custody pending trial.

Lewis Bagnato, 32, of Kennedy, has been in custody at the Allegheny County Jail since he was charged in federal court on Friday.

The U.S. Attorney’s office made a request for detention, but following a hearing Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Pupo Lenihan released Bagnato into the custody of his brother, who lives in Oakdale.

“I think she made the right decision as to the federal charges,” said defense attorney Michael Moser.

While executing a search warrant at Bagnato’s home in McKees Rocks in relation to the drug case, investigators found a Harrington and Richardson 16-gauge, single-shot weapon with a 9-1/4 inch barrel, and a modified stock that makes it no longer possible to fire from the shoulder.

The weapon was not registered with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

In addition, agents found a minimal amount of TNT and RDX powder, which are federally regulated explosives, said Agent Ryan Rennig, with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Moser indicated that his client used those to train an explosive-sniffing dog in his capacity as a part-time police officer in Oakdale, where Bagnato had worked for seven years — through April.

However, Rennig testified that the Oakdale police chief was unaware that Bagnato had explosive material and that the dog was not owned or trained by the department.

“To have the raw material would be uncommon,” Rennig said. “In addition to being uncommon, it’s unlawful because he’s not a holder of a federal license.”

But Moser argued that the amounts that investigators found were minimal.

In requesting that Bagnato be held in custody, Allegheny County police Sgt. Brett Whittenberger testified that Bagnato’s ex-fiancee expressed concerns for her safety, and told officers that Bagnato had previously punched holes in the wall and knocked a screen door off.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Risacher argued that Bagnato’s “character strongly counsels toward detention.

The prosecutor said that Bagnato showed total disregard to the rules at the jail and that he betrayed the public trust.

“The criminal justice system already placed its trust in Mr. Bagnato once, and he repaid that trust by smuggling durgs in to the place he was supposed to protect,” Risacher said.

Moser noted that his client is presumed to be innocent, and that while the federal charge is a serious one, there is no evidence to show he ever used the modified shotgun or threatened to.

In reaching her decision, Lenihan said that the information provided about the former fiancee was somewhat vague.

“I think I can impose conditions that will ensure her safety,” she said.

In the state case, police said Bagnato told a man incarcerated in the jail he could get Suboxone, Percocet and K2 into the facility to be sold to others.

Bagnato then met that’s man’s girlfriend at a McKees Rocks grocery store, where she gave him $2,000.

Video taken from surveillance cameras inside the jail showed the exchange between Bagnato and the man on April 10.