Pgh.-Area Ex-Police Chief Pleads Guilty To Sex Offender Charge

KITTANNING, PA — A former police chief in Leechburg, Armstrong County, has pleaded guilty to failing to properly register as a sex offender.

Michael Diebold, 44, entered the plea after being charged with failing to provide accurate information when he registered as a sex offender.

ln 2018, Diebold pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from an undercover agent he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty to felony charges of statutory sexual assault, attempted statutory sexual assault, unlawful restraint and criminal use of a communications device.

Diebold was sentenced to nine to 23 months in prison and three years probation.

The girl Diebold thought he was communicating with online was an undercover agent from
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro's office. They communicated on multiple occasions, and Diebold sent inappropriate pictures to the agent.

He was arrested after attempting to arrange a meeting with the fictitious girl at a Westmoreland County location.

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