http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16780846&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=6
06/13/2006
Bugging the neighbors, again
Michael Pound, Times Staff
NEW SEWICKLEY TWP. - A New Sewickley Township woman faces yet another
set of charges that she harassed her neighbors.
Robin Ann Sloppy, 48, of 507 Baker Road is charged with stalking and
harassment, after police said she verbally accosted her neighbor's
daughter around 5:45 p.m. May 29.
New Sewickley police said Sloppy approached Angie Vilella, the
daughter of Tristan and Maria Vilella, who live next door at 519
Baker Road, and yelled at the girl: "Daddy's going to jail in June."
Township police have made numerous trips to Baker Road while
mediating disputes between Sloppy and her neighbors. Sloppy has been
charged with harassment before; she is awaiting trial on charges
filed that she stalked and harassed the Vilellas twice in 2005 and
again in January.
In April, Robin Sloppy and her husband, Thomas - a state trooper
stationed at the Gibsonia barracks - were charged with making illegal
audio recordings, as part of a video surveillance system installed at
the Sloppy home, of their neighbors.
Those charges were dropped at a preliminary hearing April 17. New
Sewickley police said Thomas Sloppy has since moved from the home; he
could not be reached for comment Monday evening.
Also see:
http://www.timesonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=16494500&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=8
http://www.timesonline.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=16465296&BRD=2305&PAG=461&dept_id=478569&rfi=8
State trooper charged with illegal recording
Bill Vidonic, Times Staff
04/12/2006
State trooper Thomas Sloppy is reflected in the district justice's
office window on Tuesday.
The Times / Lucy Schaly
- Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Thomas Sloppy said that with his
arraignment Tuesday on charges of creating an illegal audio recording
of his neighbors, he knows his fate is sealed.
"It's done. It's over. My career is over, my marriage is over," said
a teary-eyed Sloppy, 48, of 507 Baker Road, New Sewickley Township.
"It's killing my health. I guess I just have to walk away."
Sloppy and his wife, Robin, 48, of the same address, were charged
Monday with three counts each of interception, disclosure or use of
wire, electronic or oral communications and a single count of
criminal conspiracy. Thomas Sloppy blamed the situation on an ongoing
feud with neighbors and what he called his wife's mental illness.
"(Robin Sloppy) refuses to believe she is in any way at fault," said
Thomas Sloppy, who works at the Gibsonia barracks.
According to a police report filed by New Sewickley police officer
Greg Carney, the Sloppy property borders the 519 Baker Road home of
Tristan and Maria Vilella. A 6-foot-tall fence separates the properties.
On April 2, Carney went to the Sloppy home for a report of
trespassing. Robin Sloppy said two neighborhood children had ridden
all-terrain vehicles on her property, Carney reported.
Robin Sloppy told Carney that she had a videotape of the incident,
and her husband turned it over to New Sewickley police Friday.
While reviewing that tape, Carney said, he found the ATV incident and
previous video and audio recordings involving the Vilellas made by the Sloppys.
In Pennsylvania, it's illegal to make an audio recording of someone
without his knowledge.
On Tuesday, Thomas Sloppy admitted that he was aware that it was
illegal to make audio recordings of their neighbors and warned his wife.
"I told Robin they didn't want audio," Sloppy said, "but she said, 'I
want everything on that tape.' I told her, 'You'll have to take the
consequences.' "
Holding up a copy of the charges filed against him, Sloppy said,
"These are the consequences."
Sloppy said he's felt as if he's been in the middle of a battle
between his neighbors and his wife.
"It's been like I've been tap-dancing in the rain and trying not to get wet."
Thomas Sloppy was released after District Judge C. Douglas Loughner
set $10,000 unsecured bond.
Sloppy said he submitted retirement paperwork to his superiors on
Tuesday, bringing a 231/2-year career to an end.
He added that once he tells his superiors about the felony charges,
he expects to be suspended from duty. Sgt. John Ferraro, head of the
Gibsonia barracks, referred questions to the state police public
information department, which was not aware of the charges Tuesday evening.
Robin Sloppy was jailed briefly Monday until she was able to post
$10,000 bond set by District Judge Ed Howe.
The Vilellas could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Robin Sloppy is awaiting trial on another set of charges that she
stalked and harassed the Vilellas between March 14 and May 18, 2005,
and again harassed them in January. She was ordered by a Beaver
County judge to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Thomas Sloppy said that he has been trying to persuade his wife to
get mental health treatment but that she has refused.
Bill Vidonic can be reached online at bvid..._at_timesonline.com.
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