Arnold's new police chief suspended amid investigation, mayor says

About six months after being named Arnold’s new police chief, Josh Stanga has been placed on administrative leave while he is the subject of an investigation, Mayor Shannon Santucci said Saturday.

Santucci said Stanga is the target of an investigation underway by state police and the state Attorney General’s Office but would not go into detail as to what the investigation concerns.

The state Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

State police spokesman Myles Snyder said state police does not confirm or comment on any open investigations until charges are filed.

Stanga did not respond to a message left on his cellphone Saturday afternoon.

Stanga was placed on administrative leave Friday, Santucci said. She declined to say how that was done or if the leave is paid or unpaid.

Stanga was Santucci’s pick to replace previous police Chief Eric Doutt after she was elected mayor in November. Santucci, herself, is a school district police officer who served as Arnold’s police chief previous to Doutt.

City council unanimously approved Stanga’s hiring as police chief in February. His salary was set at $82,000.

Rob Haus is the officer in charge of the police department, Santucci said. Haus had been the city’s interim police chief between Doutt’s retirement Jan. 1 and Stanga’s hiring in February.

Doutt retired before Santucci and the new council could vote to demote him.

An Arnold resident, Stanga, a Marine Corps and Army veteran, has been a police officer for 12 years. He began as a part-time officer in Ford City in 2012 and also worked part-time in Manor Township. He became a full-time officer with the Armstrong County Sheriff’s Department in 2013, serving on the county’s narcotics enforcement team.

He worked full time for the Aliquippa Police Department, attaining the rank of patrol sergeant before moving to Arnold in 2015, where he served until joining the Wilkinsburg Police Department in 2017.