Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USA
By Bobby Kerlik
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
An Allegheny County judge today ordered a former bounty hunter to jail pending his preliminary hearing on charges that he was pretending to be a police officer or U.S. Marshal.
Mark Smith, 40, of the Perry South section of the North Side, is still on probation for fatally shooting an unarmed man more than three years ago.
Police said the most recent incident occurred Feb. 24 when Smith tried to help a friend involved in a domestic dispute in Sheraden. A female friend called Smith to tell him about problems she was having with her live-in boyfriend. Police said Smith arrived at her house wearing body armor, and carrying a loaded handgun and ankle shackles. Smith is accused of wearing a Fugitive Recovery Agent badge, a black shirt with "Police" inscribed on it and a ball cap emblazoned with the words "U.S. Marshals."
Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning said he would review Smith's release after the preliminary hearing. Manning sentenced Smith to two years' house arrest and three years' probation for the December 2004 shotgun slaying of Michael Robinson, 38, of Zelienople, in a vacant North Side house. Smith and a fellow fugitive recovery agent were searching for Robinson, who skipped bond on a case in Butler County.
Bobby Kerlik can be reached at
bkerlik@tribweb.com or 412-391-0927.
