Andrew Capone, a public defender with Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, was arrested this week for providing inaccurate information to a judge’s staff, according to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Capone reportedly provided inaccurate information regarding his client appearing for trial in a sex assault case.

Capone has been charged with hindering apprehension and obstructing the administration of law. He was released on non-monetary bond.

Capone was the lawyer for Jeffrey Derosky, who was charged by Allegheny County police with sexually assaulting a child. He was scheduled for trial on January 12. He was found dead four days later of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in West Virginia.



In a criminal complaint, a county sheriff’s detective wrote that Capone told a staff member for Judge Donna Jo McDaniel that Derosky “had not appeared at court.”

The detective also said that staff members for the judge asked Capone multiple times if Derosky had checked in and said "the last time he saw his client was when they met on the Friday before the trial."

Karen Blystone, the live-in girlfriend of Derosky was contacted by detectives during the search. She told detectives that Derosky went to the courthouse the morning of the trial and met with Capone. She said she went to the courthouse with him. Capone reportedly told Derosky that a plea deal was being offered by the Allegheny County district attorney’s office. The plea deal called for a prison term of five to 10 years.

"Karen Blystone stated that Jeffrey Derosky informed Andrew Capone that he needed time to think about it and would get back to him," the detective wrote.

Blystone said her and Derosky left the courthouse and that "she knew that a criminal bench warrant would be issued."

Blystone said she left Derosky at a hotel bar, which was closed, and had not seen him since then.

When the detective confronted Capone with the information from Blystone, Capone said that he "was unsure how to answer that question and believe that it would violate attorney/client privilege."

The detective said Capone told the judge’s staff that Derosky and Blystone came to court for the trial, he told them about the plea deal and Derosky cursed and said, “I’m out of here.”

Blystone was charged with hindering apprehension and obstructing the administration of law. She was taken into custody on January 15 and released on January 20.

Officers in Parkersburg, West Virginia found Derosky dead in a hotel room after being contacted by Allegheny County Sheriff’s Deputies.