Gilpin man arrested after girl, 17, found at his house tested positive for drugs

A Gilpin man was charged with a felony after a county child protective services caseworker told police they believed a teen girl who was living with him was in danger.

Police said the 17-year-old tested positive for multiple drugs after being taken to a residential youth facility.

Dennis Kreashko, 57, of the 500 block of Evergreen Road was charged with a felony count of corruption of minors along with endangering the welfare of children.

He is being detained in the Armstrong County Jail in lieu of a $5,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge James Andring is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, according to court records.

Police responded Tuesday, May 17 to Kreashko’s home after a caseworker for Armstrong County Children, Youth and Family Services called for help to pick up the girl, according to a criminal complaint.

Kreashko met officers in the driveway and allowed them to enter the house, where they found the girl sitting in the living room wearing a “black lace see-through corset and short spandex shorts,” the complaint said.

The girl was escorted outside after covering up with a shirt and was interviewed together with Kreashko, police said.

Police said Kreashko told them he takes care of the girl because she has no other place to go and they are “just friends,” the complaint said. He told them the girl sleeps on the sofa, police said.

Police said the girl repeatedly tried to seek guidance from Kreashko on how to answer their questions, but she confirmed to them that she was living with him, according to the complaint.

The girl was taken into custody by the CYFS caseworker and transported to a Westmoreland County youth home, police said.

While at the facility, the girl was administered a drug test that came back positive for methamphetamine, ecstasy, the anti-anxiety medication benzodiazepine and amphetamine, according to Kreashko’s arrest papers.

Based on statements made by the girl and Kreashko, she was under his supervision during the 48 hours when she took the drugs, the complaint said.

In March, Kreashko was ordered to stand trial in Armstrong County on drug and drunken driving charges filed by state police in August 2020, according court records.

Last June, Kreashko was sentenced to three months in jail and a year’s probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor drug possession charge filed by Allegheny Township police in August 2017.

In 2017, Gilpin police arrested Kreashko on multiple felony drug charges for which he was convicted.

The case was dismissed, however, after a state appeals court judge ruled his constitutional rights were violated when evidence was collected, according to his attorney in the case, Duke George.