Aliquippa Assistant Police Chief Facing New Charges, Accused Of Recording Conversations
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ALIQUIPPA (KDKA) -- Aliquippa's assistant police chief, already facing charges for sending an inappropriate video to a minor, is now facing new charges.
Joseph Perciavalle was arraigned Tuesday morning on a charge of intercepting communications.
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According to the criminal complaint, Perciavalle recorded a conversation between himself and Aliquippa police chief, Don Couch, without Couch's knowledge back in March.
The 39-minute recording was made the same day the state police served a search warrant on the Aliquippa municipal offices as part of a grand jury investigation involving the city, investigators said.
The criminal complaint says "it was also quite obvious that the recording ended when Perciavalle and Couch parted company."
Police say they questioned Couch about the recording and he said he never gave Perciavalle permission to record any conversations between them.
Perciavalle was acting police chief in Aliquippa for less than two days in June before the first charges were filed against him. In that case he is charged with disseminating sexual material to a minor, corruption of minors and contacting minors with obscene material.
According to that 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.
Also in June, Aliquippa Police Chief Don Couch was placed on administrative leave by the Aliquippa City Council.
Officials issued a statement at the time regarding the move in relation to the ongoing investigation into the murder for teacher Rachael DelTondo, who was gunned down Mother's Day weekend in her parent's driveway in Aliquippa.
"[Wednesday] evening, 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 the [Rachael DelTondo] murder. That is completely false, that has nothing to do with it," Solicitor Myron Sainovich said in June.
Stay with KDKA for the latest on this developing story.
