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Revenge Motivation Feared While Westmoreland Man Is At Large

David Wayne McGinnis Possibly Armed In Bolivar, Police Say

POSTED: 11:26 pm EDT March 15, 2010
UPDATED: 6:50 pm EDT March 17, 2010

Minutes after an insurance fraud warrant was served at David McGinnis' home, he decided it was time for revenge on those who helped build the case against him, according to police statements in new court documents.

McGinnis was not home when the warrant was served Monday night, and state police in Westmoreland County have been searching wooded areas of Bolivar for the 44-year-old man, who they said may have confronted someone with a gun.

"The actions he's taken, the steps that he's taken, are all indicative of someone who's committed to not being caught," Trooper Stephen Limani said.

Monday's warrant was on an insurance fraud charge. According to the paperwork, he and his wife allegedly reported their truck stolen from the Galleria parking lot in Johnstown and hid it, hoping to collect insurance money.

In court papers that were filed Wednesday, police said McGinnis went to the home of people who he believed ratted him out shortly after he learned that he was wanted and his wife had been arrested.

First, McGinnis went to a Fairfield Township home to confront a family that provided investigators with photos of the truck, police said. A woman who lives in the home told police that she spotted McGinnis in her backyard woods in a sniper position.

"She thought he was going to shoot her and has no doubt he would if he got the chance ... She is terrified of McGinnis," a state police trooper wrote in the court paperwork Wednesday.

Then, police said, he went to a relative's trailer home in Bolivar early Tuesday and burned it down. The home was destroyed by flames.

The relative was not home at the time of the fire, and neither was his family, who said they had a feeling McGinnis was after them for pointing police to the hidden truck's whereabouts.

David McGinnis
David McGinnis

State police said troopers tried to serve a warrant at McGinnis' home in Bolivar on Monday but he wasn't there.

Neighbors said they heard what sounded like gunfire, but there were no reports of anyone being shot in the area.

McGinnis is a convicted felon who is not allowed to own a gun, and police said they don't know where he got one. WTAE Channel 4's Jennifer Miele reported that his rap sheet includes theft and receiving stolen property.

More than 40 state troopers have been involved in the search for McGinnis between Bolivar and New Florence over the past few days.




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