A 26-year-old Sheraden man accused of throwing his ex-girlfriend to the floor and beating her was arrested this week after 10 months on the run, according to the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office. Michael Stuvaints answered the door himself when detectives showed up at a home on Allendorf Street, ending a search that stretched back to October.
Pittsburgh police had charged Stuvaints with simple assault, strangulation and terroristic threats, according to the sheriff's office, as reported by WPXI. Police allege Stuvaints entered his ex-girlfriend's house, threw her to the floor, grabbed her throat and beat her. Officers reportedly found Stuvaints near his ex-girlfriend's apartment shortly after the incident, but officials say he escaped before he could be taken into custody, setting off the monthslong search.
Stuvaints also had a separate arrest warrant out of Mount Oliver on a gun charge and resisting arrest, per the sheriff's office. That warrant originated in a jurisdiction distinct from Pittsburgh's own police force: Mount Oliver is a 0.32-square-mile independent borough just two miles south of Downtown Pittsburgh that runs its own municipal police department despite being surrounded by the city, according to Allegheny County records.
How Deputies Tracked Him Down
The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office said it eventually learned Stuvaints was staying in a home along Allendorf Street in Sheraden, a residential West End neighborhood of roughly 5,290 residents located near Chartiers Creek and the West Busway, per data from Niche. Detectives went to the address and announced themselves, and Stuvaints opened the door. He was taken into custody on the spot and transported to the Allegheny County Jail.
The office overseeing the case is led by Sheriff Kevin Kraus, who took office in January 2022 after 21 years with the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police and now leads the largest sheriff's office in Pennsylvania. Fugitive apprehension of this kind falls to the office's dedicated Fugitive Squads, which typically pair four detectives and a supervisor with a K-9 unit to track down defendants who evade active warrants across the county's municipalities.
This was not the first time Stuvaints had crossed paths with that unit. Court records show he was previously arrested by Allegheny County Sheriff's deputies in Homewood in December 2019 after leading multiple local police departments on vehicle pursuits, an incident detailed at the time by TribLIVE. Deputies recovered a semiautomatic handgun, marijuana and 382 stamp bags of heroin at that arrest, and Stuvaints had been wanted for fleeing Stowe police along with nine outstanding bench warrants ranging from aggravated assault to narcotics offenses.
What the Charges Carry
The strangulation charge Stuvaints now faces is a serious one under Pennsylvania law. Strangulation against a family or household member, including a former intimate partner, is graded as a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to DiCindio Law. The Commonwealth added the standalone strangulation statute in 2016, making choking or impeding someone's breathing a felony in domestic cases even when there are no visible injuries.
The terroristic threats charge carries its own weight. It is typically graded as a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to five years in prison, for threatening violence with intent to terrorize another person regardless of whether physical contact occurs, per the same source. Prosecutors often pair that charge with simple assault counts in domestic violence cases when threats accompany alleged physical abuse.
A Pattern Across the County
Cases like this one reflect a broader pattern local officials have flagged in recent years. An Allegheny County Department of Human Services report published in January 2025 found that intimate partner homicides accounted for 30% of all female homicide victims in the county between 2017 and 2022, with victims and perpetrators disproportionately concentrated among adults aged 25 to 34, according to Allegheny Analytics. The county established a multi-agency intimate partner violence task force in May 2022 to improve information sharing between law enforcement and social services in response to that trend.
Allegheny County receives roughly 12,000 domestic violence-related 911 calls each year, with domestic violence contributing to 15% to 20% of local homicides in recent years, according to Laura's Light. Advocates tracked by the group note that financial dependency and limited emergency shelter capacity remain major obstacles for survivors trying to leave abusive relationships. The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence has estimated that domestic violence costs the Commonwealth approximately $156 million annually in law enforcement, court proceedings, medical care and lost workplace productivity, per the same source.
It remains unclear what became of the charges Stuvaints faced following his 2019 arrest, or whether any bail or protection-from-abuse conditions were in place before he disappeared for 10 months this time. Sheraden has seen its share of violent crime and heavy police presence recently, including a fatal shooting at a Sheraden intersection last month. For now, Stuvaints remains in the Allegheny County Jail following his arrest.
