Pittsburgh police arrested Giovanni Moore on Friday after saying he snatched cash from a woman’s hand outside a Downtown convenience store, assaulted two women, and later punched a man in a Downtown plaza. He remains in the Allegheny County Jail on a combined $30,000 in bail.
Downtown Pittsburgh charges
Police said Moore tried to take a woman’s bag in a Downtown plaza about an hour after the convenience store encounter, then punched a man in the face there. The Downtown arrest adds to a case that now runs through seven different law enforcement agencies and 16 charges since Dec. 22, according to the facts provided.
On Dec. 22, Moore was evicted from his mother’s house after a judge approved a restraining order against him. Since then, police have linked him to incidents across Pittsburgh, the Mon Valley and the South Hills, including allegations that began with lower-level offenses and grew into the Downtown accusations now before Pittsburgh police.
Harry Schultz on Aug. 5
The Aug. 5 allegations show the pattern police are describing. Shortly before 5 a.m., police said Moore punched Harry Schultz in the face while Schultz waited Downtown for Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s 82-Lincoln route, then tried to tackle him. Schultz was taken to UPMC Shadyside hospital and was not seriously injured.
Police also said Moore dropped his pants and exposed himself at the Wood Street subway station that day, then threw a cup of water on an unprovoked victim on Grant Street around 3:30 p.m. Port Authority police charged him on Aug. 5 with open lewdness, adding one more piece to a file that already spans several agencies and months.
Timothy Novosel and the case
A Pittsburgh police officer described Moore as the main cause of a series of violent crimes in the Downtown area, but Cmdr. Timothy Novosel was hesitant to endorse that description. That split matters because the case is being built from separate arrests and complaints, not one single incident, and those charges will move through the system on their own tracks unless prosecutors join them later.
For Moore, the immediate result is simple: he stays in the Allegheny County Jail on $30,000 bail while the Downtown allegations and the earlier cases continue to accumulate around him. The unresolved issue is the full legal outcome of the Downtown charges and the earlier cases from other agencies.
