Survivor begs judge to release child predator away from Pittsburgh

A tearful and at times angry Alicia Kozakiewicz stood feet from the man who abducted and raped her 17 years ago and begged a federal judge on Friday to keep the man from moving into her hometown.

“Today I am both a 13-year-old victim and 31-year-old advocate,” Kozakiewicz told Judge Nora Barry Fischer during a 20-minute hearing in the Downtown Pittsburgh courthouse.

Just behind her sat 55-year-old Scott Tyree, who is fighting to serve his parole in Pittsburgh over the objections of Kozakiewicz and her family.

Tyree pleaded guilty in 2003 to travel with intent to engage in a sex act with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor. Then 13 and living with her parents in Crafton Heights, Kozakiewicz disappeared Jan. 1, 2002.

She was found by authorities four days later chained to a bed in Tyree’s Virginia townhouse, where he’d taken her and sexually abused her with the intent of making her a sex slave.

Tyree served 17 years of his nearly 20-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina. He received time off for good behavior.

Court records show Tyree was moved to the Renewal Center, a Downtown Pittsburgh halfway house, in early December. Kozakiewicz found out via Facebook message from a media outlet.

“I was shocked,” she told the judge of finding out Tyree was in Pittsburgh. “I couldn’t speak. I let out an anguished scream.”

She said she thought it must have been a mistake in court paperwork. It wasn’t.

In a March 14 motion related to victims’ rights, Kozakiewicz’s attorney Emily Town asked the court to transfer Tyree to a halfway house “away from Pittsburgh” and away from Kozakiewicz’s current home in New York City.

Kozakiewicz said that while she no longer lives in Pittsburgh, her family does. She visits at least once a month. She said Tyree has been given the option to be released into a different federal jurisdiction, but he has declined.

“Ask yourself why,” she said.

Tyree has no ties to the area other than the fact that his crime and court case happened here.

“I can’t even visit my hometown,” Kozakiewicz said. “My family has been taken from me and held hostage.”

A late March status report indicated both sides had agreed to stipulations on Tyree’s release, including that he not come within a certain perimeter of the family’s home – something that would be enforced by GPS monitoring.

The hearing Friday was solely to introduce Kozakiewicz’s victim impact statement into the record.

Since she was rescued, Kozakiewicz has become a motivational speaker, founding Alicia’s Project to raise awareness about online predators.

She attended Point Park University – about a block away from the halfway house to which Tyree has been released.