Manhunt For David McGinnis Continues
POSTED: 2:56 pm EDT March 19, 2010
UPDATED: 10:38 pm EDT March 22, 2010
BOLIVAR, Pa. -- The search continues in Westmoreland County for a wanted fugitive, and police said they are frustrated by those who might be helping the man elude arrest.
The manhunt started on Monday when police tried to serve David McGinnis, of Bolivar, a warrant for insurance fraud.
Police said 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.
Investigators said McGinnis is seeking asylum with people who support his flight.
McGinnis' wife, Denise, told WTAE Channel 4 Action News reporter Jennifer Miele she's hoping her husband, who has been without his thyroid medication for a week, returns unharmed.
"I want him to know we want him to come home safe and sound so we can end it," said Denise McGinnis.
Denise McGinnis said she wants her husband to call "someone he can trust and just turn himself in."
On Monday, Denise McGinnis showed Miele the inside of her home, where burned floors, broken windows and holes in the wall are a common site after tear gas was shot inside in an attempt to flush out her husband.
Miele reported that police held a news conference on Friday afternoon vowing to prosecute anyone who's helping McGinnis avoid authorities with a felony charge of hindering apprehension.
"That could be anywhere from giving false information to law enforcement to destroying some type of evidence to trying to hide him or warn him or her of the fact that police may be looking for him," said State Trooper Stephen Limani.
Miele also reported that some people in the Bolivar and New Florence communities are vocal about their support for the wanted man.
"He's a friend of mine. I know what Dave's like. I mean, he stole some things, don't get me wrong. But he never hurt anybody and he's one of those kind of guys that if one his friends was in trouble, he'd be right there to help them, first one there," said Bing Borin.
Teens have been spotted wearing homemade shirts that say "Go Dave," "Run Dave Run" and "Free Dave," Miele reported. She found a car with a similar sentiment expressed in the dust on the vehicle.
However, police said McGinnis is armed, dangerous and on a rampage of revenge against anyone helping police to build a case against him.
Monday's warrant was on an insurance fraud charge. According to the paperwork, McGinnis and his wife 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 gave information to police 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 who 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.
Denis McGinnis told Miele she denies those allegations.
"He might be on the run, and I been with him for almost 25 years, but he never hurt one person. Never nothing at all, never nothing violent about him," said Denise McGinnis.
McGinnis is a convicted felon who is not allowed to own a gun, and police said they don't know where he got one. 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.
Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,000 reward leading to his arrest.
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