Two charged with helping fugitive elude police in St. Clair Township

Two people have been charged with concealing and hindering the apprehension of fugitive Ray A. Shetler Jr., who was arrested late Tuesday after a struggle with sheriff’s deputies and state police when they discovered him hiding in a St. Clair Township mobile home, according to court documents.

Shetler, 37, who was acquitted in the 2015 killing of St. Clair police officer Lloyd Reed, was wanted for a probation violation, part of the sentence he received for theft and receiving stolen property convictions related to the homicide case.

Prosecutors said Shetler failed a drug test and didn’t appear for a Dec. 3 hearing. Common Pleas Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio signed a warrant that day for his arrest. He was placed in the Westmoreland County Prison on Thursday.

Troopers filed misdemeanor complaints of hindering apprehension against Kenneth W. Krouse, 56, the owner of the mobile home along Shrum Hill Road where Shetler was found hiding after 10 p.m. Tuesday. They filed an identical charge against Keeley Shay Morgan, 29, a New Florence woman who also was inside the home when investigators located Shetler, police said.

Both Krouse and Morgan told police Shetler was not inside the home, Trooper Daniel Poponick wrote in court documents filed before Ligonier District Judge Denise Thiel. Krouse gave police permission to search the residence and found Shetler hiding in a bedroom beneath a futon covered with blankets.

Shetler headbutted a sheriff’s deputy as the deputy attempted to take him into custody, Poponick said.

Believed to be under the influence of methamphetamine, Shetler continued to struggle with officers and had to be forcibly taken into custody, Sheriff James Albert said. On Wednesday, state police charged Shetler with aggravated assault and resisting arrest.

The deputy suffered multiple injuries and was treated and released from AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. He remains off duty as he recuperates, Albert said.

Shetler was injured and initially treated at AHN Forbes Hospital for facial fractures and a fractured eye socket, Albert said. He was transferred to UPMC Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh on Wednesday for surgery, where two deputies were assigned to watch his room around the clock, Albert said. After he was released from the hospital, sheriffs transported him to the county prison.

Neither Krouse nor Morgan had been arraigned on the charges, and they could not be reached for comment. Neither had an attorney listed in court documents.

After a six-day trial in 2018, jurors found Shetler not guilty of first- and third-degree murder for the Nov. 28, 2015, shooting death of Reed, 54, of Hollsopple, Somerset County. Reed was killed as he responded to a domestic violence call.

A part-time officer, Reed was first on the scene at Shetler’s Ligonier Street home in New Florence after Shetler’s live-in girlfriend called 911 for help. Witnesses said Reed came upon Shetler, who was holding a rifle, and demanded he drop the weapon. Shetler refused to comply, and Reed fired six times.

Shetler fired three rounds from his rifle, one of which struck Reed under his left arm and just beyond his bulletproof vest.

The defense maintained Shetler did not know the armed man in his front yard was a police officer.

Shetler fled after the shooting, swimming across the nearby Conemaugh River and dumping some clothing and the rifle in a ditch on a power plant’s property. He was arrested after a six-hour manhunt.

The jury found him guilty of two theft counts for stealing a vehicle during his getaway. He was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in jail and five years’ probation.