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Suspect captured in attempted child rape in Carroll

3 min read
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A homeless man was captured in Pittsburgh Sunday as a suspect in the attempted rape of a 15-year-old boy last month in Carroll Township.

Allegheny County sheriffs arrested Russell Michael Marycz, 43, in the city’s Market Square following an exhaustive search after a string of charges were filed against him Oct. 21 in the Carroll case, township police Chief Paul Brand said.

Marycz was arrested on a charge of failure to register as a sex offender stemming from a Monongahela case in which he pleaded no contest to charges of prostitution and unlawful contact with a minor in 2010, online court records show.

Brand said Marycz also was under investigation on similar charges stemming from an investigation in the Mon Valley that began in June. He also has a record for kidnapping, robbery and prostitution in Allegheny.

“We’re happy to get this guy off the streets,” Brand said Monday.

In the Carroll case, Marycz was accused of forcing the boy to a winery on Van Voorhis Lane, where he allegedly wanted to perform sex acts on him late Sept. 27.

The boy told police Marycz approached him about 11 p.m. at Second and Chess streets in nearby Monongahela and asked for directions to Mounds Street. The boy said he wanted to go home, but Marycz grabbed him by the arm and said he wanted the teen to take him to Mounds Street, police stated in the affidavit.

The boy said he was scared and Marycz later changed his mind and wanted to go to Van Voorhis Lane because his girlfriend was drugged at a party and he needed to find her, the record indicates.

The boy also claimed Marycz said, “If you run I’ll hurt you.”

The boy told police he broke free from Marycz and ran into a neighborhood to call his mother.

Brand said the evidence, including witnesses and surveillance, backed up the boy’s statements.

Police in Jefferson Hills for the past week have looked for Marycz by stopping at his last known address of 1617 State St. near West Elizabeth. He also has been known to reside in Monongahela.

“I appreciate the help of the other agencies in trying to find him,” Brand said.

District Judge Mark Wilson arraigned Marycz by video Monday and ordered him to be held on $250,000 bond on charges of attempted rape of a child, unlawful contact with a minor, kidnapping, interfering with the custody of a child, corruption of minors, criminal solicitation, criminal coercion, simple assault, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment.

He was being detained Monday in Allegheny County jail on $20,000 bond on the failure to register charge.

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