Pittsburgh, PA (PPP)—Pittsburgh Police officers have arrested a man for illegally possessing a firearm.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Magisterial District Court, officers observed a blue Nissan Versa driving on Cedar Avenue with severe front-end damage and an inoperable driver’s side headlight.

Upon approaching the vehicle, officers found the driver, Curtis Veasley, outside of the car inspecting the damage. Officers noticed a black firearm on the passenger side floorboard and the driver quickly became nervous, insisting on closing the driver’s door, according to the complaint.

Veasley told the officers that the car belonged to a friend and that he had hit a deer, but the damage to the vehicle suggested that it had hit a stationary solid object, according to the complaint.

When officers conducted a search of the vehicle, they found a black polymer 80 ‘Ghost Gun’ with live rounds in the magazine, as well as several credit cards and a social security card belonging to Veasley, according to the complaint.

The police also found three cell phones on the passenger side, one of which Veasley claimed ownership of, according to the complaint.

When officers contacted the alleged owner of the vehicle, Veasley attempted to get her to claim ownership of the firearm recovered in the vehicle, according to the complaint.

Curtis Veasley was subsequently taken into custody and transported to the ACJ without incident.

Name: Curtis Veasley
Gender: Male
Age: 44

Agency: Pittsburgh Police Department

Court: Magisterial District Court 05-0-03
Docket Number: MJ-05003-CR-0001532-2023
Date Filed: March 19, 2023

Bail: $10,000 monetary
Confinement: Allegheny County Jail
Confinement Reason: Unable to post bail. Note: bail was posted the same day by Liberty Bail Bonds.

Criminal Charges

1. Persons not to possess, use, manufacture, control, sell or transfer firearms (Felony 2)
2. Firearms not to be carried without a license (Felony 3)
3. Driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked (Summary)
4. Immediate notice of accident to police department (Summary)

Affidavit of Probable Cause

On March 18th, 2023 at approximately 2203 hours Officer Bertan and I, Officer Gadola were on patrol on Cedar Avenue in a fully marked Pittsburgh Police car equipped with emergency lights and sirens. While driving down Cedar Avenue Officers observed a blue Nissan Versa (PA ███████) driving on Stockton Avenue and then onto Cedar Avenue. This Nissan Versa had severe front and damage and had an inoperable driver’s side headlight. While Officers were approaching this Nissan it then pulled into the parking lot of the Sunoco at ██ Cedar Avenue. Officer Bertan and I were concerned that this vehicle had been in some type of accident prior to us observing it due to the fresh damage, which included the bumper dragging on the roadway and fluid actively leaking tram the vehicle. For the above listed vehicle code violations Officer Bertan and I conducted a traffic stop utilizing our emergency lights. The driver and sole occupant of this vehicle would later be identified as Curtis Veasley.

Upon our approach to the Nissan Veasley was already outside observing the damage to the front of the vehicle. Veasley did not appear to notice Officer’s presence until I asked him what was going on. Veasley stated to me that he had to call his cousin and continued to observe the severe damage to the front of the vehicle. As I was attempting to speak with Veasley Officer Bertan was approaching the Nissan on the driver’s side, which still had the driver’s door open. Officer Bertan immediately observed a black firearm on the passenger side floor board inside of the vehicle. Veasley then noticed that Officer Bertan was standing next to the open front driver’s side door, stopped speaking with me, and began to quickly walk over to where Officer Bertan was standing.

Veasley made 2 statements that I could not fully hear in regards to closing the driver’s door. Officers advised Veasley that we were not going to do that right now, and I again asked Veasley what was going on. Veasley stated that ‘the car done crashed’ and again insisted on closing the door. Due to Veasley becoming increasingly nervous, his continued insistence on closing the driver’s door, and with Officer Bertan’s knowledge of a firearm being in the vehicle Veasley was then detained.

While speaking with Veasley, he told me the vehicle belonged to ‘his friend’, and that it was not his vehicle. Veasley continued to insist on getting into the vehicle to get Officers ‘what we needed’. When I asked Veasley what he had struck he stated ‘um, a deer’. It should be noted that the center of the vehicle had a severe V shaped indent. In my experience as a Police Officer investigating vehicle accidents this type of damage is consistent with a vehicle striking a solid, fixed object such as a telephone pole or other stationary solid pole.

I advised Veasley he was under official police investigation and obtained his name and date of birth. I then ran the information Veasley provided me through our CAD/NCIC to confirm his identity, Veasley came back as being negative for any wants or warrants, on federal probation, not having a valid concealed carry permit, and that his driving privileges were suspended type 2 DUI related. Due to Veasley not having a valid concealed carry permit and possessing a firearm inside of a vehicle he was the sole operator and occupant of he was officially placed into custody.

Officer Sulkowski read Veasley his Miranda Warnings to which he indicated he understood. It should be noted that there was also 3 cell phones on the passenger side of the vehicle that Veasley claimed possession of. Specifically, there was a black phone next to the firearm on the floorboard, which Veasley would ask Officer Sulkowski to grab for him to he could make a phone call to the alleged owner of the vehicle. Veasley would provide Officer Sulkowski with the password to this black phone. Officer Sulkowski spoke with the owner of the vehicle with Veasley present. Veasley attempted to get this female to claim ownership of the firearm recovered in the vehicle. Officer Sulkowski asked this female what color the firearm was, to which she stated it was silver. He then asked if it was like a revolver style firearm, to which she stated she believed it was. Neither of these statements were accurate, confirming that the firearm did in fact not belong to this female.

Officer Bertan removed the firearm from the passenger side floorboard of the vehicle and rendered it safe. The firearm was a black polymer 80 ‘Ghost Gun’ with 4 live rounds in the magazine. There was also a small black back on the front passenger seat of the vehicle. While Officer’s were initially attempting to ID Veasley he stated that his ID was in this black bag. Officer Bertan was unable to locate an ID in this bag, but did locate a social security card and multiple credit cards for Curtis Veasley. This vehicle was not safe to drive on the road due to the severe front end damage along with leaking fluids. Prior to towing the vehicle, Officers conducted an inventory. No items of value were found. I did note that there was a Huntington bank notice with the name ‘Curtis Veasley’ and a Discover Credit Card envelope addressed to ‘Curtis Veasley’ in the glove box of the vehicle. The Discover envelope was dirty, crinkled, and appeared to have not been placed there recently.

Officer Lojek and Lodtz checked the immediate area from which we observed Veasley driving to attempt to locate an accident scene. Officers were unable to locate any such scene, which furthermore leads me to believe that Veasley had been driving for some time after his vehicle suffered the severe disabling damage.

Veasley was transported to the ACJ where he was accepted without incident by Officer Palinski.

Officer Bertan ran Curtis Veasley’s criminal history through JNET which returned multiple felony convictions including the following:

Guilty Plea to CS 13 A30 Manufacture of a controlled Substance Arrest Date 05/11/2005 OTN K231575-1.

Guilty Plea/Found Guilty of CC 3502A Burglary, CC 6105C2 Persons Not to Possess a Firearm Arrest Date 12/17!2007 OTN K392376-5.

These convictions make him a person not to possess a firearm along with being ineligible to possess a valid concealed carry permit.