814 Pred Hunters group leads protest against DA outside Westmoreland County Courthouse
Around two dozen people showed up outside the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Thursday to protest District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli.
The protest at 10 a.m. was organized by the nonprofit group 814 Pred Hunters, an organization that, since its founding in 2022, has been dedicated to exposing online child predators to their communities.
The founder of the group, Brian Knepp, says to date, they have helped law enforcement bring in well over 300 child predators in several states to face justice, but he says Ziccarelli has been negligent in her job when it comes to these matters.
"She has failed to prosecute any of the seven individuals which we have caught in Westmoreland County," said Knepp. "And to make it even worse, there are multiple cases now that she has dropped the ball on. There was a child that was just assaulted with a screwdriver and the guy got seven years' probation."
In late August, David Landman accepted a plea deal from the DA's office after being arrested in 2022 for allegedly, as police said, "brutally" and "repeatedly" sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl in his Greensburg home.
Landman's deal included not only seven years' probation, but him pleading guilty to child endangerment and reckless endangerment, an outcome that at the time, Ziccarelli said held the defendant accountable.
Ziccarelli's office released a statement about the protest and about its process around these cases. The statement said in some cases, prosecutors have to decide if "the risks outweigh the reward."
"These complex cases become some of the most difficult decisions for prosecutors – the victim – and their family," the statement said. "How do we strategically prosecute this case, ensure accountability, and protect this victim? Would a swing and a miss on a case ending in a mistrial be justice for our victim? We don't think so."
The statement went on to say, "Every victim, every scenario, every element of what's factual and not factual – and what can be proved or disproved – is considered into every decision that is made. Even if the outcome is not what we had hoped for in the end."
Knepp says that if Ziccarelli won't step down, his advice with cases like Landman's is "don't be afraid of taking it to trial."
"She used the excuse that she was afraid of taking that case to trial and losing," Knepp said. "As far as I'm concerned, she lost that case. Seven years' probation is nothing. That didn't stop that individual from being out here and preying on kids every single day. It didn't stop anything."
