Convicted Trafford rapist accused of attacking woman in Penn Township

A sex offender who served a lengthy prison sentence for rape is back behind bars after Penn Township police charged him with attacking a woman he solicited for sex.

Paul Daniel Zagwoski, 56, of Trafford is being held in the Westmoreland County Prison on $100,000 bail on misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, theft and related offenses.

Investigators were called Aug. 9 to an area along First Street between Trafford and Level Green where a woman reported being assaulted by a man later identified as Zagwoski, according to court papers. She told authorities Zagwoski offered her $150 for sex when he picked her up in Pittsburgh about 9 a.m.

During the ride from Pittsburgh into Westmoreland County, they stopped at a gas station, where authorities said Zagwoski bought cigarettes and condoms. After they reached Penn Township, the woman reported Zagwoski pulled out a knife and punched and kicked her, according to court papers.

She fled into a nearby field while Zagwoski drove away with her belongings. A person driving by stopped to help her and she was taken to AHN Forbes Hospital in Monroe­ville, police said.

Investigators identified Zagwoski as the suspect by looking at surveillance video from the gas station and tracking his movements through license plate readers and a GPS monitoring system as part of his state parole, according to court papers.

Zagwoski did not have an attorney listed in online court records. A preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 20.

He is required to be registered as a sex offender for life under a 1988 rape conviction in Allegheny County, according to his Megan’s Law registration and court records. He was sentenced in 1988 to 20 to 40 years in a state prison in connection with the kidnapping and rape of a woman in Allegheny County.

News reports from the time indicated he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years for writing a threatening letter to President Ronald Reagan while at the Allegheny County Jail. Zagwoski was released in August 2020, according to state prison records.