State police have charged two people with helping Ray Shetler, Jr. elude police before his arrest late Tuesday after he failed to show up for a probation hearing.
Reports say that troopers filed misdemeanor charges of hindering apprehension against 56-year-old Kenneth W. Krouse, the owner of the mobile home where he was found, and 29-year-old Keeley Shay Morgan, who was in the mobile home when police were looking for him. Police had been looking for Shetler since last Friday, when Westmoreland County District Judge Meghan Billik-Defazio issued an arrest warrant for him when he failed to show up for a probation hearing in court. He had told a probation officer that he would not show up and would not tell him where he was. Police received a tip that he was in St. Clair Township and surrounded the trailer, and when they got there, both Krouse and Morgan claimed that Shetler was not in the mobile home. Police found him inside the home, hiding under a futon covered with blankets. He struggled with arresting officers, and in the scuffle, he injured himself and one of the arresting officers. It was believed that Shetler was under the influence of Meth at the time.
Shetler was acquitted of homicide charges related to the 2015 killing of St. Clair Township Police Officer Lloyd Reed, but the jury found him guilty of theft and receiving stolen property as he took a truck during his escape from the scene. The probation hearing was in connection with those theft and receiving stolen property charges, and prosecutors said that Shetler skipped the December 3rd hearing because he had failed a drug test.
