PITTSBURGH - A former resident of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, was sentenced in federal court to 24 months of incarceration followed by three years of federal supervision by the United States Probation Office on his conviction for escaping from a halfway house, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
United States District Judge Joy Flowers Conti imposed the sentence on Anthony Lee, age 38, formerly of the Hill District section of Pittsburgh and the borough of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
According to information presented to the court, the defendant was serving the end of his 10- year federal sentence for drug dealing and illegal gun possession in a halfway house when he walked away on Oct. 23, 2016. He was later located and arrested by members of the United States Marshal Service Fugitive Task Force on Nov. 22, 2016.
The Court noted that Lee walked away after becoming involved in an altercation with his girlfriend and a new girlfriend that left the former girlfriend bleeding from injuries to her face. The government noted that the defendant has amassed a total of 46 arrests between his first arrest at the age of 11 and his current sentencing at age 38. Those incidents resulted in 27 different criminal convictions. The government noted that Lee has spent the entire time between his first arrest and the current sentencing either: pending trial; on supervision; incarcerated; or as a fugitive - with the sole exception of three months in 2004. Lee had walked away from numerous different facilities in the past, according to evidence presented to the court.
The Court learned that Lee had been seriously injured as a result of two separate incidents where he was shot in 2001 and 2002. Although Lee claimed that the injuries from these incidents left him physically unable to work, his criminal record includes a subsequent 2004 incident where Lee and his co-defendants kicked in the door to an apartment and pointed guns at the female occupant and her children. After realizing that they had forcibly entered the wrong apartment, the defendants went to the second floor, forced entry to that apartment and pointed guns at those residents as well. One resident jumped from the second floor in an effort to escape, apparently breaking his ankle. As police arrived, Lee and his co-defendants were attempting to flee across the rooftops, but were apprehended.
Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Conti stated that Lee committed a "serious offense," that he has "never had any legitimate employment" and that he had a "bad criminal history" which warranted the current sentence.
Assistant United States Attorney Ross E. Lenhardt prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
United States Attorney Brady commended the United States Marshal Service for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Lee.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
