Man Arrested After Refusing to Leave Tanning Salon

Dormont police said suspected heroin, prescriptions, hypodermic needles and more were found in the possession of a man arrested last weekend for refusing to leave a local tanning salon.

Officers responded to Hot Spot Tanning on West Liberty Avenue just before 5 p.m. on July 6 for a report that a man identified as Aaron Hart, 41, of Pittsburgh was refusing to leave the business.

An employee told police Hart spent about 15 minutes in the shop’s bathroom, then claimed his first tanning session was too short and demanded a second session, according to the report.

Police found Hart inside one of the shop’s tanning booths and brought him out. According to the police report, Hart was slurring his speech, having difficulty speaking, and his movements and reflexes were slow.

Police said Hart was asked to leave the shop and did, but returned a few minutes later, claiming he left his cell phone there. Police said the phone was visible in a baseball cap Hart was holding in his hand.

When Hart was told he would be arrested for defiant trespass and public drunkenness, police said he began pushing and shoving the officers, who had to use arm bars and wrist locks to restrain him.

Hart was taken to Dormont police station and transported to Allegheny County Jail, where he is being held on a $40,000 bond, according to court dockets.

Eight suspected stamp bags of heroin, a baggie of unidentified white powder, numerous prescriptions in Hart’s name, a kit of hypodermic syringes, and a tourniquet were found in a backpack Hart was carrying, police said. The stamp bags and white powder were sent to the Allegheny County Department of Laboratories for analysis.

Shortly after the incident occurred, a tanning salon employee called police again to report that pornographic images were drawn in the tanning booth Hart used, and that since the booths are cleaned after each use, it could not have been drawn by anyone else. Police photographed the drawings.

Hart was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, defiant trespass, public drunkenness, resisting arrest and criminal mischief.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 18 at 1:30 p.m. before Magisterial District Judge Blaise P. Larotonda.