Wife speaks out after police chief charged in child sex sting
LEECHBURG, Pa. -- State prosecutors are accusing the police chief in a small Pennsylvania town of trying to solicit sex online from an undercover agent posing as a 14-year-old girl.
The attorney general's office on Friday arrested 40-year-old Leechburg Police Chief Michael W. Diebold at a spot in Westmoreland County where he had allegedly hoped to meet up with the girl.
Prosecutors say he's charged with two felonies: unlawful contact with a minor and criminal attempt to commit involuntary deviate sexual intercourse.
A telephone message left at Diebold's home wasn't immediately returned.
An officer answering the Leechburg Police phone says he learned of the arrest late Friday from news reporters.
Part of Diebold's left arm was amputated last year in a fireworks accident during a fire company carnival.
Danielle Reinke Diebold, the former police chief's wife, sent the following statement to CBS Pittsburgh on Sunday:
"They say God will never give you more than you can handle, but he did this time.
I have never hurt so bad in all my life.
I don't know how to pick up all these broken pieces and find a way to put them back together and go on with my life, but I have to try to find a way for my children. Our lives have been completely shattered.
I am broken, devastated, humiliated, and I was completely blindsided.
He was the first man ever in my life who never made me question, never gave me a gut feeling, never a bad instinct or sign and we were even in the process of planning to extend our family.
This is not who we knew. We knew a loving, caring father and husband and we are grieving the loss of that man.
On the other hand, we are dealing with the raw emotions of having someone you loved and admired be charged with committing a terrible crime.
I feel like they are two different people — but they are not.
I will never find the right words to say but I want to say I am truly so sorry to everyone out there including any minor that may have been involved, our community, family and friends."
The couple got married last July, 12 weeks after their son, Kyle, was born.