Former Elizabeth police chief pleads guilty to stealing heroin

By Tom Davidson
Trib Total Media News Wire Services
The former Elizabeth borough police chief pleaded guilty to theft and other charges after he was accused of emptying the department’s evidence room of its heroin to feed his personal drug habit.
Timothy Butler, 43, of Finleyville, pleaded guilty in Allegheny County court to two counts of theft, one count of possession and one count of obstructing the administration of law for stealing and using the drugs in the borough police department’s evidence room.
In exchange for the plea, the district attorney’s office withdrew theft charges stemming from Butler’s failure to deposit the monies collected in 2017 from Elizabeth borough parking meters.
Former Elizabeth police Sgt. Garrett Kimmell initially confronted the chief in December 2018. Butler then told Kimmell that he’d become addicted to heroin, according to a criminal complaint.
Butler told Kimmell that he developed the drug problem after being prescribed painkillers for neck and back pain, police wrote in the complaint.
“It’s a mess. It’s all gone,” Butler told Kimmell when asked about issues with the departments drug evidence room, which Butler controlled, according to the complaint.

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