A late-night confrontation in Cranberry Township ended in handcuffs after police say a Pittsburgh woman showed up at her ex-boyfriend’s apartment with a kitchen knife and a chilling voicemail threat.
According to charging documents, 39-year-old Kiersten Sands went to her former boyfriend’s place on the 1200 block of Stratford Court late Thursday, Feb. 19, after the pair had broken up earlier in the day. Investigators allege that before she arrived, Sands left him a voicemail saying she was “coming to kill him.”
Once at the apartment, police say Sands tried to force her way inside and used a kitchen knife to manipulate the door. Cranberry Township officers were called just before 9:30 p.m., and when they told her to leave, she allegedly began kicking the apartment door instead. Officers then took her into custody, according to Butler Radio.
Sands is charged with criminal trespassing, terroristic threats, possession of an instrument of a crime with intent, criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct, the charging documents state. She is being held in the Butler County Prison on a $10,000 bond, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 6, as reported by Butler Radio.
What the charges mean
Pennsylvania’s terroristic-threats law makes it a crime to communicate a threat of violence with the intent to terrorize someone. It is ordinarily classified as a first-degree misdemeanor, but it can be graded as a third-degree felony if it causes an evacuation. The statute is set out in 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706.
Criminal trespass and possession of an instrument of crime are covered under § 3503 and § 907. Penalties for those offenses depend on how someone allegedly entered or tried to enter a property and what kind of tool or weapon prosecutors say was used.
