Aliquippa Names New Acting Police Chief
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ALIQUIPPA (KDKA) - The Aliquippa Police Department has named a new acting police chief.
According to the city administrator, Captain Robert Sealock was named acting chief "in the absence of the other officers."
Within the last month, the chief, assistant chief and a sergeant have all been placed on paid administrative leave.
Last week, Assistant Chief Joseph Perciavalle was arrested for the distribution of sexually explicit material to a minor.
Perciavalle, who had been acting police chief for less than two days, was arraigned and released on $5,000 unsecured bond.
He is charged with disseminating sexual material to a minor, corruption of minors and contacting minors with obscene material.
According to the criminal complaint, he sent a text to a group of people, including a 17-year-old girl. The video showed a half-naked woman urinating on a swing.
That minor is believed to be Lauren Watkins, who was with Rachael DelTondo the night she was murdered. She is also the daughter of Aliquippa Police Sgt. Kenneth Watkins, who is on leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
The text messages were discovered by county detectives when they confiscated Lauren Watkins' phone as part of the DelTondo investigation.
Earlier this month, Aliquippa Police Chief Don Couch was placed on administrative leave by the Aliquippa City Council.
"For personnel issues, they decided they were going to place the police chief on administrative leave. There was speculation and some innuendo that this is in some way related to Rachael DelTondo murder. That is completely false, that has nothing to do with it," Sainovich said.
There have been calls for an outside agency to take over the DelTondo investigation, or to remove the department from the investigation.