Drugs discovered in car of arrested city officer

A Pittsburgh police officer already charged with offering to spare women legal trouble in exchange for sexual favors might face drug possession charges after crack cocaine, marijuana and other narcotics were found in his car this weekend, police sources and the officer's attorney said.

Officer Adam Skweres, 34, a five-year veteran working out of the Zone 3 station in Allentown, was charged last week with crimes including bribery, coercion, indecent assault and official oppression stemming from three cases in which women told police he offered them legal aid in exchange for sex acts and a fourth in which a woman said he tried to rape her.

Detectives searched Officer Skweres' Lincoln Place home on Friday night looking for his uniforms as well as more evidence, and they searched his vehicle on Saturday, according to police sources who would not say what else was recovered at either location.

The officer's attorney, Phillip DiLucente, said he was aware that the search warrants were executed but did not know what else they yielded. He said police went there looking for "physical evidence to corroborate the alleged victims' stories."

Mr. DiLucente did not know who the drugs belonged to or why they were in the vehicle, but he said there was a possibility that they were evidence in one of Officer Skweres' cases that had not yet been cataloged.

Police bureau policy says most evidence is to be stored in the property room and prohibits officers from storing evidence in their vehicles or at their homes, among other places.

No additional charges had been filed against the officer as of Sunday night.

Officer Skweres was suspended without pay and jailed on Thursday after the first charges were filed. A judge on Friday agreed to place him on house arrest with electronic monitoring pending trial. Mr. DiLucente said his client remained in jail on Sunday while awaiting an electronic ankle bracelet.

"He is anxiously awaiting his day in court," Mr. DiLucente said. "He is somewhat disappointed that a lot of people have already made up their minds about him."

Allegations against Officer Skweres date back as far as June 2008, when police said he offered to write a positive letter to the county Office of Children, Youth and Families on a woman's behalf if she would perform oral sex on him. About two weeks later, police said, he offered not to charge another woman in a traffic accident if she would do favors for him. In a third case that police said happened in December, Officer Skweres told a woman he could influence her boyfriend's case in court if she would have sex with him. A fourth woman said the officer attacked her on Feb. 11 in her home, where he had shown up in full uniform. He asked her if she wanted to help her boyfriend out of jail and then forced her to perform sex acts, police wrote in criminal complaints. The woman reported the incident to the FBI, which prosecutors have said led to Officer Skweres' arrest.

Police Chief Nate Harper has urged other potential victims to come forward.

Sadie Gurman: sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.

First published on February 20, 2012 at 12:00 am

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Drugs discovered in car of arrested city officer