Officials eye accused Sharpsburg recreation director's links to other minors

PITTSBURGH — Authorities are investigating whether a Sharpsburg recreation director accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy was similarly involved with other minors with whom she talked on her cellphone.

“Police plan to interview other individuals who have had contact with this woman,” said Mike Manko, a spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.

Neighbors of Susan Sundo, 45, said her arrest shocked them. Sundo volunteered in the canteen at the Aspinwall Area Baseball Association, where two of her children play, they said.

“It‘s a shame. I did not know her. I have seen her and know that her boys play baseball,” said Edward Echnat, a neighbor.

Her neighbors said Sundo, a married mother of three boys ages 6 to 14, accompanied her children to baseball tournaments in Puerto Rico.

County police arrested Sundo on Tuesday on charges of corruption of a minor, statutory sexual assault and related felonies, accusing her of carrying on the sexual relationship for six months. She is being held in the Allegheny County Jail.

Court officials said it was not clear if she has an attorney. No one answered the phone or door at her home.

“She will not be back in the canteen,” said Bill Hudic, president of the Aspinwall Area Baseball Association.

Hudic said he did not believe the boy involved with Sundo was a player in the Aspinwall league. Sundo‘s husband complained to police about his wife‘s relationship with the teenager, said Sharpsburg Mayor Richard Panza.

“She was relieved of her duties as of last night. Everybody was pretty surprised by this. We are in shock,” Panza said.

A criminal complaint states the boy repeatedly spent the night in the Sundo household and entered her bedroom several times wearing only underwear. He slept in Sundo‘s bedroom as recently as Dec. 16, police said.

Sundo‘s husband, whom authorities did not identify, told police that the boy got a large number of text messages and phone calls from Sundo starting about six months ago.

While at the Sundo home, the boy said, she often sent him text messages encouraging him to meet her for sex in the attic or basement, the complaint states.

When Sundo‘s husband drove to the boy‘s home to confront him and his parents, the teen told him that they had sex for several months — in her home and in a sport utility vehicle parked in an Aspinwall lot, the complaint states.

Jim Donahoe, head of Aspinwall Council‘s parks committee, said background checks are standard for volunteers in youth sports.

“They run background checks on any new people,” Donahoe said.

A review of online criminal records showed no arrests in Pennsylvania for Sundo.

This article was written by Channel 11's news exchange partners at TribLIVE.

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