Happy day for police clerk, acquitted of terroristic threats

YESTERDAY WAS a happy day for Kathy Pugh, who was dismissed from her civilian police-clerk job last year after she was arrested on charges in connection with a South Philly street fight.

A judge acquitted her of all charges after a nonjury trial.

Then, later in the day, Pugh, 53, learned that her co-defendant and boyfriend, Robert Reid Sr., 44, told a different judge that they would be getting married soon and going on a honeymoon.

"He said that?" Pugh responded to a Daily News reporter, looking happily surprised. She said she thought she and Reid were "eventually" getting married.

At Pugh's trial before Common Pleas Judge Joan Brown, Pugh's attorney, Fortunato "Fred" Perri Jr., argued that the three prosecution witnesses testified to different things. He also contended that the other side in the fight - the prosecution's witnesses - were more armed than they admitted.

Brown pronounced her not-guilty verdict on charges of terroristic threats, simple assault, conspiracy and recklessly endangering another person immediately after hearing the testimony and lawyers' closing arguments.

"Thank you, Jesus!" Pugh said.

She hugged two friends - Jean Roulac, who works as a civilian police clerk and called Pugh her co-worker, and Regina Foxworth, who knew Pugh from church - both appeared in court as character witnesses on Pugh's behalf.

Perri said afterward that Pugh is expected to get her job back.

During the trial, Barbara Wiatrak, 39, testified that shortly after 1 p.m. June 22, she came out of her house on American Street near Porter and saw Pugh, Reid Sr. and his son, Robert Reid Jr.

She only recognized Reid Jr., who had a relationship with her daughter, Angelina Matos, now 22. At first, Wiatrak testified that her daughter was already outside, but under questioning by Perri, she agreed with him that her daughter was initially at a neighbor's house, then came out.

Wiatrak said Pugh "was cursing and screaming at my daughter." She said the argument was about "my daughter being pregnant and a lot of stuff that Mr. Reid [Jr.] did to my daughter."

Wiatrak said Pugh mentioned that she worked "with the cops" and was going to get her gun from her vehicle.

So, she said she called 9-1-1 and then she and other family members followed Reid Sr. and Pugh to Pugh's Dodge Durango.

During the 9-1-1 call, played by Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wellbrock, Wiatrak was heard screaming to the dispatcher: "She's going to get her burner. She has it in her car right now. She said she's going to shoot me."

Wiatrak contended that Pugh, after going to her SUV, took a gun out of her handbag, which was in the vehicle, waved it around and threatened to shoot Wiatrak. She said Pugh put the gun back in her handbag after Wiatrak told her she called 9-1-1.

She said Reid Sr. grabbed the gun from the vehicle and threatened to shoot her husband, Edwin Matos. Reid Sr. then put the gun in his pants pocket, she said.

Edwin Matos, who is now separated from Wiatrak and lives in Florida, said his wife and Pugh were arguing outside his house that afternoon when he came out.

He said when Pugh went to her vehicle, he saw her take something from her handbag, but did not see what it was, and she then put her bag back in her vehicle.

He said Reid Sr. then pointed a silver handgun at him and threatened to kill him.

Matos said he told someone in his family to get a bat, and after one was retrieved from the house, Matos said he threatened to break the windows of Pugh's vehicle if Pugh and Reid Sr. left before the cops came. He said Reid Sr. punched him in the head, but he was not seriously injured.

After cops arrived, police cuffed Reid Sr., who was put in the back of a patrol car. Cops found a gun on Reid Sr., who did not have a permit to carry it.

The gun was not loaded and was registered to Pugh, who had a permit to carry it.

Wellbrock argued that Pugh brought a gun to the fight to scare Wiatrak and the Matoses.

Angelina Matos also testified.

Perri strongly argued that the prosecution witnesses were not credible and pointed out what he said were inconsistencies in their statements over whether his client had a gun or not in her hand, and over other details in the fight.

It didn't make sense that the Matoses and Wiatrak would follow Pugh to her SUV if she really said she was going to get a gun and if they weren't themselves more armed, he said. He contended they had sticks and bats.

After Pugh's acquittal, Reid Sr. pleaded no contest before Common Pleas Judge Charles Ehrlich to carrying a concealed gun without a license. He has no prior arrest record.

Ehrlich sentenced him to three to 12 months in jail plus two years' probation. Reid Sr., who already served more than three months in jail after his arrest last June, was given credit for time served and immediately paroled.

But before Reid Sr., who works in a deli, left the courtroom, he asked the judge if he could travel. "I'm about to get married and go on a honeymoon," he said.

The judge said he could travel, adding: "Whatever happened here doesn't seem like it's going to happen again."