A homeless man is accused of making numerous harassing phone calls to Ascension Catholic Church in Jeannette, police said.
William J. Gay, 55, is accused of threatening to kill a church secretary and set the church on fire, according to court documents. He has been making the calls since October, seeking help from the Rev. Job Foote, parish priest, according to the police affidavit.
A church secretary told Diocese of Greensburg police those calls took a graphic turn in February 2025, when some messages became sexual in nature, police said.
Jeannette police told Gay on April 3 to stop making the calls, but he allegedly called the church the following day. Gay then made a death threat against a secretary and threatened to burn the church, according to Greensburg Diocese police officer Randall Gardner.
The secretary told police she was terrified by the threats and feared for the safety for herself and her family.
Diocese police said they received recordings of 140 calls Gay allegedly made between March 28 and April 16, which included eight messages containing threats and sexual references. There were six messages that were veiled threats or direct threats to the church, police said.
Gay told the diocese police officer he was sorry for his actions and asked whether there was any way for him to get out of the charges, according to the affidavit.
Cliff Gorski, a spokesman for the Diocese of Greensburg, declined to comment Monday.
Gay was arrested Saturday and arraigned before Jeannette District Judge Joseph DeMarchis on three misdemeanor counts of making terroristic threats, one count of stalking and two counts of harassment by communication. He is in the Westmoreland County Prison in lieu of $7,500 bond, pending a preliminary hearing set for May 8.
