Former Runaway Sues McKeesport Schools, Police, Security Company

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There are new developments in the case of an Allegheny County woman who ran away to live with a McKeesport school security guard when she was just 14, and wasn't seen for 10 years.

Tanya Kach is suing Thomas Hose, the McKeesport Area School District, the McKeesport Police Department and the security company that hired Hose, who worked as a guard at Cornell Middle School.

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"We never want this to happen again anywhere else. That would be the number one thing that should come out of this," Kach's mother, Sherri Koehnke, said outside a federal court hearing Thursday in downtown Pittsburgh.

Kach said she ran away from home in February 1996 to be with Hose, who was 38 at the time. Kach said Hose held her captive and refused to let her contact her family.

In 2006, at age 24, Kach left Hose and told her story to a local business owner, who notified police.

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Former Runaway Sues McKeesport Schools, Police, Security Company

Three federal judges heard arguments Thursday to determine if a civil suit against the McKeesport schools and police meets the civil statute of limitations.

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Tanya Kach Lawsuit

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The civil lawsuit alleges that the school and police didn't do anything to stop or prevent the crimes against Kach. A district court previously ruled the suit has no standing, but Kach appealed and is hoping to bring the case to a jury.

"We find optimism in the fact that the court has agreed to hear the case at all," said Kach's lawyer, Lawrence Fisher. "Certainly, we are optimistic always, and have always been optimistic that we will prevail in righting the wrong."

Hose is serving a five- to 15-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related offenses.

Judith Sokol, who was accused of helping Kach change her looks so she could run away and live with Hose, pleaded no contest to aiding and abetting statutory sexual assault, corruption of a minor and related offenses. She was sentenced to six to 23 months.

Kach, now 28, is engaged and pursuing a business degree as a full-time college student.

"I just hope she lives a normal, happy life again and moves on with it and leaves the past in the past once this trial is over," Koehnke said.

Lawyers told Channel 4 Action News that a settlement has already been reached with the security company, St. Moritz Security Services.

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