Parolee sought by police after gun is discovered
A Butler man paroled on charges that he helped to burn and hide the body of a woman murdered by his friend in 2017 is again a wanted man.
City police are seeking James E. Howard-George, 26, after they found a handgun he was carrying in a backpack Friday night. As a felon, police said, he is prohibited under state law from possessing any firearms.
Howard-George managed to run away from police, even after they deployed a Taser, and elude capture.
Police obtained an arrest warrant for him Monday on felony charges of prohibited possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm without a carry license and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
Officers came upon Howard-George after they were called to the area of Pullman Park and Pillow Street for a report of three males assaulting a female, police said.
With the defendant was Anthony Blackwell Jr., 23, of Pittsburgh, and a 15-year-old Butler boy. Police learned there was a bench warrant for Blackwell and they arrested him.
For officers' safety, police also searched Howard-George for any weapons. He allegedly let police search the backpack he was carrying.
But as he handed the backpack to an officer, police said, he “turned away from officers and ran south” toward the back of Pullman Park.
Another officer deployed his Taser and one of the probes hit the suspect, but it apparently had no effect.
Police gave chase, but they lost him in the area of the 500 block of West Diamond Street.
A search of the backpack, police said, turned up the .22-caliber pistol, a two-shot derringer with one chambered round.
On Jan. 30, Howard-George in an unrelated case was sentenced to jail with immediate parole after pleading guilty in November to helping Ishemer Ramsey burn and hide the body of Melissa Barto, 26, of Butler in Lawrence County in 2017.
Prosecutors offered him a plea deal after he provided key testimony at Ramsey's October murder trial in Butler County. Ramsey, 24, of Lyndora was found guilty of first-degree homicide in Barto's shooting death. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Howard-George agreed to plead guilty to charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, both misdemeanors. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors withdrew a top count of conspiracy to commit homicide.
Judge Timothy McCune sentenced him to time already served — following his arrest — in the Butler County Prison from June 13, 2017, to Nov. 12, 2019.
