Pittsburgh, PA (PPP)— A woman has been charged with making terroristic threats and disorderly conduct after a domestic dispute in a Pittsburgh apartment building on March 13.

Laodicea Roberts was taken into custody by police officers following a 911 call from her mother reporting a family disturbance.

Upon arrival at the apartment building, officers encountered Roberts, who denied calling 911 and attempted to walk away from them. She was detained after initially backing away from the officers.

The officers then spoke with Roberts’ sister and mother, who reported that Roberts had arrived at the apartment building to argue about the removal of her children by Child, Youth and Family Services.

Roberts reportedly began yelling at family members, including making threats against her sister’s life and the life of her sister’s two-year-old son. She also made references to sending people to her sister’s residence to harm her and her son.

The sister retrieved her firearm in response to feeling threatened and instructed Roberts to leave the apartment. Roberts subsequently left and was later arrested by officers.

Name: Laodicea Roberts
Gender: Female
Age: 37

Agency: Pittsburgh Police Department

Court: Magisterial District Court 05-0-03
Docket Number: MJ-05003-CR-0001426-2023
Date Filed: March 13, 2023

Bail: $5,000
Confinement: Allegheny County Jail
Confinement Reason: Unable to post bail. Note: Bail was posted on March 14 by Liberty Bail Bonds.

Criminal Charges

1. Terroristic threats (Misdemeanor 1)
2. Terroristic threats (Misdemeanor 1)

Affidavit of Probable Cause
On 03/13/2023 at approximately 1727 hrs, Officer Mangiarelli and I, Officer Postell, were patrolling in a marked police vehicle as Unit 3511, when we were dispatched to ██████████████ for a family domestic. Upon arrival to the apartment building, a female later identified as Laodicea Roberts existed the elevator in the lobby and attempted to walk past officers. Roberts denied having called 911, stated she was arguing with her sister, but was leaving and did not need to speak to police. Roberts was advised she was detained due to the ongoing domestic she had been involved in. Roberts initially began backing away from officers, but was placed into handcuffs shortly after without incident.

Officer Mangiarelli and I then made contact with the 911 caller, identified as ███████, who is Roberts’s mother. Officers also spoke to Roberts’s sister, identified as ███████. ███ stated that Roberts arrived at the apartment building to argue about how Roberts’s children were taken away by CYF, and was let in by ███’s elderly grandmother. ███ said that Roberts barged into the front door and began immediately yelling at ███, ███, and numerous other family members. Roberts then escalated her yelling to include threats against ███’s life, as well as the life of ███’s 2yo son, identified as Juvenile Male #1, who was being held in the arms of ███. According to ███, Roberts made numerous statements including, “I know where you live,” “watch your back,” ” I hope you and your son die,” “drop dead,” and something referencing how she would send “people” to her residence to kill her and her child. All of these statements and threats placed ███ in legitimate fear for her safety, as ███ emphasized to officers that she believed Roberts would indeed send people to do her and her son harm. It should be noted that during this confrontation, numerous family members were demanding Roberts leave the apartment, which Roberts disregarded.

In response to being terrorized from Roberts’ threats and Roberts’ refusal to leave after multiple demands, ███ retrieved her firearm and held it in her hand with the muzzle pointed towards the floor. ███ stated that, while still holding the firearm down, she opened the apartment door and Roberts left.

Officers also spoke to ███ regarding the incident, which she corroborated ███’s account of events. ███ stated that her mother let Roberts in and that Roberts immediately entered her apartment without her permission. ███ stated that Roberts began yelling at her, then at ███. ███ confirmed that after the initial yelling, she immediately called 911 and Roberts escalated to threatening both ███ and her son, whom ███ held in her arms. ███ further verified that ███ retrieved her firearm after Roberts refused to leave the apartment after multiple family members demanded she leave several times. ███ stated Roberts continued to make threats towards ███ and her son. ███ also verified that ███ did not raise the firearm at any point and did not make any threats; ███ only instructed Roberts to leave. Roberts then left the apartment.

Officers then spoke to Roberts, who stated that she was stopping by her mother’s apartment to give them a piece of her mind about the CYF situation involving her children. Roberts stated she entered the apartment and began arguing with ███ and ███. According to Roberts, ███ retrieved her firearm and pointed it at her head and stated “I’m going to fuckin kill you if you don’t leave.” Roberts stated she was already on her way out of the apartment when this occurred, and she subsequently left.

Through numerous phone calls, officers spoke with on-call domestic ADA Golebiewski who approved the charges against Roberts.

Roberts was placed into custody at 1831hrs and transported to the ACJ without incident.

END.