Leechburg police Chief Mike Diebold, who has been on paid leave since June after losing his lower left arm in a fireworks accident, was arrested Friday and charged with soliciting sex online from a person he thought was a minor.
Here’s five things to know about Diebold:
- Diebold, 40, of Gilpin has been a police officer for 21 years. He became Leechburg's police chief in 2007.
- He lost his arm on June 24 while lighting fireworks mortars at a community festival hosted by the Leechburg volunteer fire department, hours after his infant son's christening.
- He married his fiancée, Danielle Reinke, on July 11, less than three weeks after the accident.
- In December, Diebold and the Leechburg Council came to an agreement about his return to duty. If he could complete a fitness for duty medical exam, he would return to full active duty.
- On Friday, Jan. 5, Diebold was arrested in the parking lot of the Lower Burrell Sheetz, where the state attorney general's office said he was expecting to meet with a 14-year-old girl for sex. The girl was actually an undercover state agent posing as a minor online.