Pittsburgh woman hires boys to shovel snow for $5 then assaults one of them: Police
A 64-year-old Pittsburgh woman is facing multiple charges after authorities say she agreed to pay two boys $5 for shoveling snow, then got them drunk and inappropriately touched one of them.
Just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 8, the woman called police about a burglary, Pittsburgh police said in court documents obtained by USA TODAY on Friday. When officers arrived, they found two boys outside the home who appeared to be about 12 or 13 years old and were “speaking in a nonsensical way, exclaiming that a lady had just got them drunk and touched them,” police said in the report.
The boys were initially detained while the woman watched from her second-floor bedroom window, police said in the report, adding that she initially wouldn’t open the door but eventually complied.
When the woman opened the front door, police say she was “extremely intoxicated” and “could not fully explain” why she had called them, though she told them that neighborhood kids had pranked her and that they were drug dealers.
She eventually stopped answering questions.
Boy says woman refilled glass with vodka more times than he could count
Officers spoke to the boys separately to get their stories, with the first telling them that the boys had been walking around and asking if anyone needed their sidewalks shoveled so they could make some money. He said the woman offered them $5, police said in the report.
As they were working, the woman asked the boys if they wanted hot chocolate. They agreed and went inside her home. Once inside, the woman gave the boys hot chocolate, eventually asking if they’d like alcohol, too, the boy told police.
The boys agreed to have some alcohol. That’s when the boy says the woman grabbed a big container of vodka and continuously filled his glass with vodka so many times that he lost count. He said he eventually threw up and said that she continued to give him alcohol and urged him to drink more, the report says.
When he was drunk, he says the woman draped her leg over his, touched him on his shoulders and legs and tried to touch his private parts, police say in the report.
The boy said they then left and were about a block away when he realized he forgot his coat. They went back to get it, and that’s when officers showed up, the report says.
The second boy told police the same story, confirming that he saw the woman touch the other boy and that they were banging on the windows of her home to get her attention and get the coat, the report shows.
He was also able to show officers video footage from inside the woman’s home that showed her sitting next to the first boy with her legs over both of his legs, rubbing his arm and shoulder, the report says.
Woman denied letting boys into home
When officers questioned the woman about the boys’ claims, she said she never let them into her home.
While investigating, officers found the first boy’s coat on her couch and a half-empty gallon bottle of vodka in her kitchen.
Officers detained the woman, took the handcuffs off the boys, contacted their mothers and took them home.
The woman was arrested and taken to the Allegheny County Jail. Her blood pressure was high and police had to take her to a hospital before bringing her back to the county jail when she was medically cleared, the police report says.
Police identified the woman as 64-year-old Rochelle Stewart. She was charged with indecent assault, corruption of minors, inducement of minors with liquor and giving false reports to law enforcement.
It was not immediately clear Friday afternoon if Stewart has a lawyer or someone representing her in court.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Follow her on Twitter at @SaleenMartin or email her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pittsburgh woman charged in assault of boy hired to shovel snow: Police
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