Richard Goldinger

District Attorney Richard Goldinger said Butler County has the lowest crime rate in Western Pennsylvania and one of the lowest in the state, and he wants to continue working to make it safer.

Goldinger, who has held the office since 2008, is running for his fifth term in the Nov. 7 election. He is facing a challenge from Independent candidate Jen “GV” Gilliland Vanasdale.

“I first ran because I’m from Butler County and wanted to make the county as safe of a place to live as it can be,” Goldinger said. “I feel there’s work to be done. That’s why I’m running again. I want to continue to try to make the county as safe as possible.”

In 2016, his office prosecuted almost 2,900 cases. Last year, 1,774 cases were prosecuted, Goldinger said.

The reduction in criminal cases, having the lowest crime rate in Western Pennsylvania and the fourth lowest among counties in the state are attributable to several measures, including his policy to seek high bonds and stiffer sentences for drug offenders, he said.

“We ask for high bonds to get them off the streets. We don’t want them to continue selling drugs while their cases are pending,” Goldinger said. “We prosecute cases. Criminals know they will be prosecuted here. We sent a message — you don’t want to come here and deal drugs. I think the policies we put in place are working.”

He said there are some unsolved criminal cases in the county, but the state police cold case unit continues to investigate those.

“The state police have their own cold case unit, which actively investigates tips and leads in cold cases,” Goldinger said. “I can’t divulge details, but there have been leads followed recently on several of the cold cases that we have.”

He said the 1980 murder of Saxonburg Police Chief Greg Adams was solved during his tenure in office.

Massachusetts State Police and the FBI searched the home of Donald Eugene Webb in Massachusetts in 2017 while investigating a gambling case. Webb had died in 1999. After finding evidence linking Webb to the Adams murder, Pennsylvania State Police were called in and all three agencies got Webb’s ex-wife to reveal that Webb shot Adams during a traffic stop.

Goldinger said he has implemented a policy aimed at reducing recidivism in driving under the influence offenses, serves on the county human trafficking task force, hired a detective to help school districts address issues in schools and refused to prosecute people and business that did not follow COVID-19 mandates.

A policy implemented this year has resulted in police filing DUI charges as quickly as possible, having defendants arraigned as quickly as possible and getting them in Butler County Common Pleas Court as soon as possible, Goldinger said.

At an arraignment, a defendant is given pretrial bail conditions aimed at preventing a repeat offense, he said.

He said he worked with police, district judges, the probation office and Common Pleas Court judges to implement the policy. Defense attorneys understand the new process, he added.

“It's too soon to see if there’s been an impact, but what I have seen is cases getting filed faster by police, defendants getting arraigned sooner and ending up in court quicker,” Goldinger said.

He said he was part of the group of officials who established the Child Advocacy Center in Center Township. The center serves children who are crime victims by providing accommodations for police interviews, medical examinations and therapists in one safe and comfortable place, he said. Without the center, child victims would have to be taken to different places to be served, he said.

“We’ve taken steps to protect kids in schools and in the community,” he said.

The school detective, who started Monday, is stationed at Butler High School, but is available to all county school districts.

“In essence we have a police officer in the school to assist the school resource officer with any issues,” Goldinger said.

The human trafficking task force operates out of the Child Advocacy Center. The goal of the task force is to get ahead of the human trafficking issue, he said.

“I have protected county residents’ rights when I refused to prosecute any individual or business that did not follow the COVID mandates imposed by the governor at that time. That allowed businesses to stay open and stay in business,” Goldinger said.

Goldinger was born and raised in the county and graduated from Butler High School. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1992 and graduated from the University of Akron School of Law in 1995.