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Jun 26, 2009 9:11 pm US/Eastern
Arrest Warrant Issued For Pittsburgh Firefighter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Officials say Manzella worked out of the fire station along Penn Avenue in the East Liberty area.
KDKA
Pittsburgh police are searching for a Pittsburgh fireman, who they say sent fellow firefighters on false calls in order to steal from their wallets while they were out.
The warrant for 31-year-old Vincent Manzella's arrest indicates that he is to be charged with three counts of burglary, three counts of theft and three counts of false alarms involving an agency of public safety.
Officials say Manzella worked out of the fire station along Penn Avenue in the East Liberty area.
According the criminal complaint, which was obtained by the KDKA investigators, firefighters were being called out to "abandoned structure fires in their coverage area."
The complaint reports that the calls required "both vehicles to be dispatched at the same time" and left no one inside the firehouse. It indicates that "when they would arrive at the dispatched location it would be a false fire call."
The criminal complaint says that firefighters noticed when they returned from the fires that "small amounts of money would be missing from pants pockets and the kitchen area."
Police tracked the false calls to Manzella, who, according to the complaint, told police that "in early April, he did make several calls into 911 from pay phones so he could get into the firehouse while the trucks were deployed."
According to the criminal complaint, Manzella told police "he was really bad into heroin at that time, and that his life had fallen apart."
The criminal complaint also reports that Manzella had a key to the firehouse, waited until the trucks left the building heading to the false alarms that he called in and once gone he went through the pants pockets of firefighters and took whatever cash he could find.
Manzella told police he "never tried to take a lot of money … just enough to get some drugs," according to the complaint.
There was no comment from Public Safety Director Mike Huss or Union leader Joe King.
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