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Man who served 17 years for trying to make Pittsburgh teen his sex slave could return behind bars

Natasha Lindstrom | Friday, July 5, 2019 9:28 p.m.

A man infamous for kidnapping a 13-year-old Pittsburgh girl with the intent of making her a sex slave 17 years ago must stand before a federal judge next week and demonstrate why he should not return behind bars, court documents filed Friday show.

Scott Tyree, 55, originally from Fairfax County, Va., is accused of violating the terms of his probation since his release in early December, probation officers Michael Howard and Marcus White wrote in a petition for a hearing in U.S. District Court of Western Pennsylvania.

Tyree was released from a North Carolina federal prison to Renewal Inc., a Downtown Pittsburgh halfway house, after serving 17 years of his nearly 20-year sentence. He received time off for good behavior.

According to federal probation officers, Tyree admitted last month to using computers and viewing pornography online — among two things he is prohibited from doing.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer granted the probation officers’ request and scheduled the hearing for Friday, July 12.

Tyree, the defendant, will have to show cause as to why his supervised release should not be revoked.

Fight to keep Tyree ‘away from Pittsburgh’

Then 13 and living with her parents in Crafton Heights, Alicia Kozakiewicz disappeared Jan. 1, 2002.

Four days later, authorities found the girl chained to a bed in Tyree’s Virginia townhouse.

In 2003, Tyree pleaded guilty to travel with intent to engage in a sex act with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor.

In late May of this year, Kozakiewicz looked tearful and at times angry in a Downtown Pittsburgh courtroom as she stood feet from the man who abducted her and begged the judge to keep Tyree from settling in Pittsburgh.

“I was shocked,” she told the judge of learning of Tyree’s release via a Facebook message from Trib news partner WPXI-TV earlier this year. “I couldn’t speak. I let out an anguished scream.”

In a March 14 motion related to victims’ rights, Kozakiewicz’s attorney Emily Town asked the court to transfer Tyree “away from Pittsburgh” and away from Kozakiewicz’s current home in New York City.

Since she was rescued, Kozakiewicz has become a motivational speaker. She founded Alicia’s Project to help others thwart online predators.

Kozakiewicz said that while she no longer lives in Pittsburgh, her family does. She visits at least once a month. She attended Point Park University — about a block away from the halfway house to which Tyree has been released.

A late March status report indicated both sides had agreed to stipulations on Tyree’s release, including that he not come within a certain perimeter of the family’s home — something that would be enforced by GPS monitoring.

Such safeguards may not be required if Tyree fails to make the case at next week’s hearing that he should not be sent back to prison.

Tyree’s probation terms included requirements to obtain mental health, substance abuse and sex offender treatment. He is not allowed to have contact with minors involving money, may not possess pornographic materials and not allowed to have any contact with Kozakiewicz.

When confronted during a June 10 meeting, Tyree told federal officers he had accessed pornographic images and live sexual videos on computers at the school he was attending and at the Renewal housing facility between April 6 and May 20, the probation officers said.

Federal officers further accused Tyree, who agreed to submit to polygraph lie detector testing, of using “countermeasures during the examination to defeat the test” on June 19. The court document did not elaborate on what those measures were.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2019/07/05/Notorious-sex-offender...

Notorious sex offender violated release terms, U.S. probation office says
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Torsten Ove
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
tove@post-gazette.com
Jul 5, 2019
7:23 PM

Federal probation officers say notorious kidnapper and sex offender Scott Tyree has violated the terms of his release from prison by accessing a website that allows access to pornography on halfway house computers and also tried to defeat a polygraph exam.

They want U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer to hold a hearing to determine if Tyree’s federal probation should be revoked, which means he could return to prison.

Tyree, 55, of Virginia, made news 17 years ago when he kidnapped Alicia Kozakiewicz to make her his sex slave and again in recent weeks because of a controversy over the location of his release.

Ms. Kozakiewicz, who lives in New York City now, appeared before the judge in May and wept as she asked the judge to keep Tyree away from her family in Pittsburgh.

Tyree was released on probation in the winter and has been staying at Renewal Center, a halfway house Downtown.

But Ms. Kozakiewicz, her lawyer, her family and several lawmakers they contacted have been trying to get his probation removed to another federal district.

They say they are afraid Tyree will try to victimize her or her family again.

The U.S. attorney’s office has objected, saying Tyree is like any other federal defendant released after serving time and that federal judges have no say over where the U.S. Bureau of Prisons places someone. Under an agreement hashed out this spring, Tyree would be monitored by GPS and not be allowed to come within a certain distance of the family’s home.

Now the debate could be moot if Tyree is sent back to prison.

On Friday, the U.S. probation office said that between April 6 and May 20, Tyree accessed a website at Renewal, and also at a school he was attending, that allows access to pornography and links to live sex videos in violation of the terms of his probation.

Michael Howard, a probation officer, wrote that he confronted Tyree in June and Tyree admitted accessing the site.

In addition, Mr. Howard said Tyree submitted to a polygraph exam on June 19 designed to make sure he’s complying with court-mandated sex offender treatment but that two polygraphers determined he used “countermeasures” to defeat the exam.

Those measures aren’t explained in the petition, but Mr. Howard said Tyree is not compliant with the program and asked that Judge Fischer hold a hearing.

Tyree pleaded guilty in 2003 to travel with intent to engage in sex with a minor and sexual exploitation of a minor. Ms. Kozakiewicz was 13 at the time and living in Crafton Heights with her parents. She disappeared on Jan. 1, 2002, and was found four days later at Tyree’s townhouse in Virginia, where he had sexually abused her.

He served 17 years at a federal prison in North Carolina and was released to Renewal in December.

During the hearing in May, Ms. Kozakiewicz said she was shocked to discover that Tyree was living in Pittsburgh. She said she found out through a media Facebook post.

“I let out an anguished scream,” she told the judge.

She thought it was a mistake, she said, but realized later it was not. She and her lawyer, Emily Town, have asked the judge to transfer him to a halfway house outside of the Pittsburgh district and also away from New York.

Tyree has no ties to Pittsburgh except the crime he committed here.

Reached Friday, Ms. Town said her client has “mixed emotions” regarding the alleged probation violations.

“On the one hand, she feels somewhat vindicated that [Tyree] has shown that he has not been reformed, has no intention of seriously engaging in his sex offender mental health treatment and remains a dangerous person. We are anxious to see what penalty, if any, the court will impose for these violations,” she said in an email.

On the other hand, she said, her client and her family remain fearful that Tyree will re-offend when his probation is over in less than three years and all court-ordered monitoring stops.

On this 19th day of September 2019, it appearing that the parties have tentatively reached agreement on the appropriate resolution of the matters before this Court, it is hereby ORDERED, that the briefing schedule set forth in this Court’s Order dated September 10, 2019 at Doc. No. 347 is STAYED, and it is
FURTHER ORDERED, that the parties are relieved from any further briefing obligations unless subsequently ordered by this Court.