By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — A Conneaut man accused of wounding a Conneaut teenager during a drive-by shooting in July faces additional charges after sending a letter to the victim last month, officials said.
Andrew Pickett, 27, has been charged with intimidation of a crime victim or witness, a first-degree misdemeanor, said Law Director Lori Lamer. The maximum penalty is six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Pickett, who is being held in Ashtabula County Jail and is awaiting trial, will be brought to Conneaut on Tuesday for an arraignment on the new charge, a Conneaut Municipal Court spokeswoman said.
Pickett was charged with felonious assault after a July 14 shooting incident outside Quizno’s Restaurant on Broad Street. Pickett fired a shot from a moving vehicle, which ricocheted off the pavement and struck the victim in the foot, police said.
He fled the scene but was arrested moments later at a Buffalo Street house, police said.
The victim contacted police last week to report having received letters from Pickett, officers said. One message was “a long letter of apology,” which urged the victim to drop the charges because she was not the intended target, Lamer said.
People charged with a crime are not permitted to contact victims for any reason whatsoever, Lamer said.
“We take this sort of thing very seriously,” she said.
Pickett was driving a vehicle when he fired a shot from a .38-caliber handgun at a woman standing with a group of people outside the restaurant, police said. Pickett and the woman apparently had a relationship, officers said.
Instead, the bullet bounced off a hard surface, striking an 18-year-old woman who was with the group.
